There is an old saying that a wealthy family loses all its fortune by the third generation. It is difficult to determine whether the saying holds true for the Korean chaebol, as many are still controlled by their second generation, with some not even setting the next succession process in motion.

However, the third generation chaebol scions own incredible amounts of assets, usually in the form of stocks. The Superrich Team looked into the assets of third-generation descendants, including those in the shadows and those who have already stepped into business management.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, son of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee and grandson of founder late Lee Byung-chull, is the richest third-generation chaebol heir in South Korea. According to the Financial Supervisory Service and financial data website FnGuide, Lee’s shares in listed companies are valued at around 7.9 trillion won ($6.6 billion) as of Dec. 8.

Among them, 56.8 percent (around 31 million shares) is in Samsung C&T and has 11.25 percent stake (around 8.7 million shares) in Samsung SDS.

Lee also has a 0.57 percent stake in Samsung Electronics, of which he is an unlisted board member, as well as shares worth 25.8 billion won in Samsung Life and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.

Forbes estimated Lee’s assets to be around $6 billion to $7.8 billion in August, with his wealth ranking staying within the top three in the country.

Suh Min-jung, daughter of AmorePacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae and granddaughter of the group’s founder late Suh Sung-hwan, is the youngest third generation stock superrich at age 24. Her stock assets – in both listed and unlisted companies -- are valued at around 438.9 billion won.

Suh’s largest stock asset is from AmorePacific, of which she owns 26.48 percent (about 2.4 million shares). She also owns a stake of 0.27 percent (about 2.4 million shares) in Nongshim Holdings -- being also the granddaughter of Nongshim Group chairman Shin Choon-ho.

In addition, she owns shares of unlisted companies, owning 226,029 corporate shares of AmorePacific affiliates Etude House, Espoir and Innisfree combined. Based on book value of the companies’ corporate shares, it is estimated that she owns shares worth around 10.6 billion won.

Suh has not yet stepped into the group’s business management and has reportedly joined Bain and Company in July.


SPC Group vice president Hur Jin-soo, the eldest son of chairman Hur Young-in and grandson of founder late Hur Chang-sung, is another notable third-generation chaebol scion with total assets of 280.2 billion won.

Hur currently owns 11.47 percent of Samlip General Food stocks (989,540 shares), estimated to be worth around 257.7 billion won. Additionally, he also owns 20.2 percent of unlisted affiliate Paris Croissant, which is estimated to be around 22.5 billion won.


Shinsegae Group vice president Chung Yoo-kyung is the daughter of group chairwoman Lee Myung-hee and granddaughter of the late Lee Byung-chull. Chung was found to have listed stock assets of 201.8 billion won, of which 69.3 percent comes in the form of her 701,203 shares of major retailer E-mart (139.8 billion won).


Hanwha Q CELLS chief commercial officer Kim Dong-kwan, the son of Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn and grandson of founder late Kim Jong-hee, has assets of 125.5 billion won and owns 4.44 percent of Hanwha stocks (3.3 million shares).


There are also third-generation chaebol descendants who do not have any known stock assets. For instance, HiteJinro senior executive Park Tae-young, son of HiteJinro chairman Park Mun-deok and grandson of honorary chairman late Park Kyung-bok does not have any shares in Hite Jinro, while his father’s stock assets are around 145.7 billion won.

However, Park’s company Seoyoung Engineering & Trading has become the second-largest shareholder of his father’s company, owning 27.66 percent of HiteJinro. Park acquired 73 percent of Seoyoung E&T shares in April 2008, and has held around 58.44 percent of the company’s shares since.

Seoyoung E&T, an unlisted company that produces beer coolers and other beer-related equipment, earned around 98 percent of its profits from working with HiteJinro from 2010 to 2012, according to audit reports. Although Seoyoung E&T is no longer as dependent on HiteJinro -- it earned only 40 percent of its total profits from the company in 2014 -- the two firms still hold a private contract relationship.

Park’s 292,200 shares of Seoyoung E&T are estimated to have a face value of at least 1.5 billion won, and he has reportedly received at least 1.3 billion won in dividends from the company last year.


Kolon Industries associate managing director Lee Kyu-ho also has no stock assets, nor does he have any companies under his name.

Lee, who is the son of Kolon Indsutries chairman Lee Woong-yeul and grandson of honorary chairman late Lee Dong-chan, has not yet registered himself as a major shareholder in Kolon Group in both listed and unlisted affiliate companies.

However, Lee’s status is expected change in the near future as Kolon Industries chairman Lee Woong-yeul has been ranked as the 34th richest in Korea with 740 billion won in listed stock assets alone.

By The Korea Herald Superrich Team (sangyj@heraldcorp.com)

Hong Seung-wan, Cheon Ye-seon, Bae Ji-sook, Yoon Hyun-jong, Min Sang-seek, Kim Hyun-il, Sang Youn-joo