40 pct of ranking gov`t officials report decline in personal wealth

SEOUL, March 27 (Yonhap) -- Nearly half of the nation's top-ranking public
officials suffered losses in personal assets last year due largely to a steep
decline in the stock and fund markets, the government said Friday.
The Public Service Ethics Committee issued an annual report on the financial
statements of 1,782 highest-ranking officials as of the end of last year,
including all officials of Grade 1 or above at ministries, heads of regional
governments and superintendents of schools.
Among them, 721, or 40.5 percent, reported that their assets had declined in
value, almost double the 21 percent from the previous year's report.
The reported losses were mainly attributed to the steep downturn in stock and
fund markets, resulting from the global financial crisis. Last year alone, the
benchmark KOSPI index plunged 40 percent from a year earlier and continued its
fall to shed 5 percent in the first two months of this year.
The average wealth of the surveyed officials inched up 2.2 percent to 1.3 billion
won (about US$1 million). But the average increase was just 28 million won, about
one-sixth of the average 160-million won increase reported the previous year.
Lieu Chul-ho, head of the state-run Korea Expressway Corp., suffered the heaviest
loss of 5.57 billion won due to stock investment losses. Culture Minister Yu
In-chon's wealth fell 2.43 billion won and Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Youn-ho
also recorded a 1.5 billion won loss for similar reasons.
President Lee Myung-bak was the wealthiest public official with 35.7 billion won
to his name, followed by Jin Tae-ku, head of Taean County in South Chungcheong
Province, and Seoul City Councilor Lee Jong-hak, who reported wealth of 25.5
billion won and 18.5 billion won, respectively.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo reported that his wealth increased 75.8 million won
to 2.32 billion won.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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