02-07-2025
Cabinet nominees face 'ethics test' over wealth
Ex-Naver CEO's assets of W44b at center of latest public scrutiny
Soon after Han Sung-sook, a famed business executive, was nominated to be minister of small and medium-sized enterprises and startups, her wealth quickly began making headlines.
According to financial disclosures Han submitted to the National Assembly, the nominee had declared around 18.1 billion won in assets.
But that failed to reflect her Naver stock options, an extensive portfolio of US stocks and crypto assets or real estate holdings, according to nondisclosed statements obtained by the opposition People Power Party.
The combined assets of the former head of the country's largest search engine Naver, the main opposition party pointed out, would amount to some 44 billion won.
If Han is confirmed as minister of SMEs and startups, a government branch that was upgraded to a ministry in 2017, she would become the richest minister to serve in that position and the richest minister in any Cabinet in over 25 years.
How a nominee vying for a Cabinet position accrued his or her wealth has long been a point of public scrutiny in Korea.
Under former President Moon Jae-in, also of the Democratic Party of Korea, public officials owning more than a single home were frowned upon.
The Moon administration put at its center the principle that officials should not own two or more homes, in a gesture aimed at placating public discontent over skyrocketing housing prices.
Lee's other nominees and appointees, including the president's top national security adviser Wi Sung-lac, have similarly faced scrutiny over owning expensive homes in sought-after neighborhoods.
