The Tamesis
March 27, 2026
Seoul – The latest mandatory asset disclosures for South Korean MPs show that more than half of the 300 MPs were millionaires as of the end of 2025.
According to data released by the National Assembly’s Public Ethics Committee on Thursday, 287 lawmakers were subject to disclosure requests, including 164 who reported personal assets of more than 1.5 billion won ($1 million). South Korea’s disclosure regime covers property, securities, cash savings, vehicles and virtual assets.
According to the “Global Wealth Report 2025” released by UBS last June, South Korea has a population of approximately 51 million, and it is estimated that more than 1.3 million people have become millionaires.
Documents show that Representative Ahn Cheol-soo and Representative Park Deok-hyun top the list of the richest members, with assets of more than 50 billion won each. Ahn Cheol-soo’s income was 125.72 billion won, and Park Ji-sung’s income was 54.79 billion won.
Excluding these two outliers, the average wealth of lawmakers is 2.89 billion won.
Representatives Park Jung, Godong-jin, and Baek Jong-hun each reported assets of more than 30 billion won. Except for Park Jung, a member of the Democratic Party, the others are members of the conservative People’s Power Party.
The disclosed information also shows that 36 members have assets exceeding 5 billion won, while 216 members have personal wealth exceeding 1 billion won.
At the lower end, 24 lawmakers reported assets of less than 500 million won. Democratic Party lawmaker Chung Joon-ho’s net worth is negative 1.05 billion won, a record low due to debt. Democratic Party lawmaker Jin Sun-mi also reported assets of negative 792.3 million won.
Progressive Party Congressman Son Sol and Democratic Party Congressman Lee Joo-hee each declared assets of less than 100 million won.
Nearly 90% of MPs have seen their wealth increase over the past year. A total of 254 MPs (88.5%) reported an increase in personal assets in 2025. Among them, the assets of 13 congressmen increased by more than 1 billion won, with the largest increase being Mr. Ko, a former Samsung executive turned conservative congressman.
Although Ahn Cheol-soo is still the richest lawmaker, his assets have dropped by 11 billion won.
Those excluded from this year’s disclosure include MPs who are also cabinet ministers, those detained as a result of criminal trials and those who lost their seats due to Supreme Court convictions.
