Top Donor: Justice Party Leads... Baek Seung-ju, Lee Eon-ju, Son Hye-won Among Top Ranks

Sim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party, is attending a party meeting held at the protest site in front of the National Assembly main building at the end of last year, delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] It was revealed that the Justice Party received the most donations last year. The average fundraising amount per lawmaker was 120 million won, which significantly decreased by more than 40 million won compared to the previous year. Lawmakers such as Baek Seung-ju (former Liberty Korea Party), Lee Eon-ju (Independent), Park Myung-jae (Korea Party), Yoon So-ha (Justice Party), and Son Hye-won (Independent) ranked among the top.

The National Election Commission announced on the 27th that the central party fundraising committees raised approximately 4.366 billion won last year, while the lawmakers' fundraising committees raised about 35.417 billion won.

The Justice Party raised the most with 1.232 billion won, followed by the Liberty Korea Party with 878 million won, the Minjung Party with 811 million won, the Democratic Party of Korea with 683 million won, and the Our Republican Party with 520 million won. The Party for Democracy and Peace and the Bareunmirae Party raised only 8 million won and 3 million won respectively.

The average fundraising amount for 295 lawmakers' fundraising committees was 120 million won. This is a decrease compared to the 166 million won average in 2018. The annual fundraising limit is 5 billion won for central party fundraising committees and 150 million won for lawmakers' fundraising committees. There were 90 lawmakers' fundraising committees that exceeded the limit last year, and this will be reflected in this year's limit.

According to Yonhap News, the average fundraising amount per member of the Democratic Party was 131.34 million won, which decreased by nearly 70 million won compared to the previous year. The average fundraising amount per former Liberty Korea Party lawmaker was 114.34 million won, down by about 25 million won from the previous year.

The decrease in fundraising is interpreted as being due to the absence of nationwide elections. Among lawmakers, Baek Seung-ju raised the most with 175.55 million won, followed by Lee Eon-ju (173.29 million won), Park Myung-jae (171.42 million won), Yoon So-ha (168.11 million won), and Son Hye-won (167.81 million won).