Jo Eung-cheon: "'6 Billion Won Asset Owner' Kim Gun-hee Pays Only 70,000 Won Monthly for Health Insurance... I Want to Ask If This Is Fair"

"Yoon's Move to Reform Health Insurance Fees Seen as Favoring Wealthy Figures Like Kim Gun-hee"

Kim Geon-hee, spouse of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, is leaving her residence in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 15th and heading to her office. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Seohyun] Cho Eung-cheon, co-head of the joint situation room of the Democratic Party of Korea's election countermeasures committee, raised suspicions of tax evasion by Kim Geon-hee, the wife of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential candidate, asking, "Is it fair that Kim, a 6 billion won asset owner, pays only 70,000 won per month in health insurance premiums?"

On the 16th, Cho stated on his Facebook, "According to materials from Yoon's past confirmation hearing as Prosecutor General, Kim served as the CEO of Covana Contents and received an annual salary of about 28 million won. However, the health insurance premiums she paid from 2014 to 2017 averaged only about 70,000 won per month," he said.

He explained, "The problem is that Kim herself was the CEO of Covana Contents, and her mother, Choi Eun-soon, who is Yoon's mother-in-law, was the 100% shareholder of Covana, so they could freely set Kim's monthly salary to reduce tax burdens," adding, "The fact that Kim's annual salary soared tenfold in 2018 clearly proves this."

He continued, "A bigger issue is that regional subscribers' health insurance premiums are calculated based on their asset size, but many wealthy individuals create 'one-person corporations' to disguise themselves as workplace subscribers and pay taxes based on unreasonably low monthly salaries," pointing out, "This is essentially a direct copy of tax evasion (tax avoidance) methods."

He argued, "Looking only at 2017, Kim paid 70,973 won per month in health insurance premiums, but at that time, her assets, including land in Yangpyeong, buildings, deposits, and bonds, amounted to 6.2 billion won. If she had been a regional subscriber, the health insurance premium she should have paid based on her assets would have been 374,650 won per month, and as of 2021, it is estimated to be 621,020 won per month."

He added, "Former President Lee Myung-bak, who was also a high-asset owner with about 17.5 billion won, had to pay more than 1 million won per month in health insurance premiums but created a small building management company called Daemyung Enterprise for his Yeongpo Building and registered himself as CEO, paying only about 20,000 won per month in premiums," criticizing, "Kim's case is a carbon copy of former President Lee's."

He concluded, "Meanwhile, Yoon claims that the direction of health insurance premium reform is income-based," criticizing, "This is openly favoring wealthy individuals like Kim."