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| ▲ The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice holds a press conference in Seoul on March 14, 2023. (Yonhap) |
presidential officials-assets
Ranking presidential officials own assets 10 times greater than national average: civic group
SEOUL, March 14 (Yonhap) -- The average assets owned by high-ranking officials at the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol amount to 4.83 billion won (US$3.7 million), about 10 times greater than the national average, a civic group said Tuesday.
The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice disclosed the findings in a press conference after analyzing assets of 37 high-level presidential officials.
The average amount is 10.5 times greater than the country's average assets per household that stand at 460 million won, the civic group noted.
Lee Won-mo, a presidential secretary for personnel affairs, declared the biggest assets of 44.6 billion won, followed by senior presidential secretary for press affairs Kim Eun-hye who reported 25.47 billion won and Kim Dong-jo, a secretary for public messages, with 12.42 billion won.
Their average real estate assets amounted to 3.14 billion won, 7.5 times greater than the national average of 420 million won, the civic group also noted.
Of them, Kim Eun-hye owns the most real estate assets worth 21.39 billion won, followed by senior presidential secretary for policy planning Lee Kwan-sup who had 13.74 billion won and Kang In-sun, a presidential spokesperson for foreign press, with 6.79 billion won.
Five senior officials, including Kang, owned two or more homes.
Seventeen officials were in possession of stocks worth 30 million won or more. Of them, 10, including Kim Eun-hye and Kim Dong-jo, have yet to report whether their stocks have been put into a blind trust.
Under the Public Service Ethics Act, high-level officials are required to dispose of stock holdings worth 30 million won or over within a certain time period or move them into a blind trust for conflict of interest concerns.
A violation is subject to a prison sentence of up to a year or a fine of up to 10 million won.
"President Yoon should order his secretaries to sell off real estate assets that are not in personal use ... or dispose of stocks exceeding the 30 million won limit to enhance the ethics of public officials," the civic group said.
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