[Politics X-File] How Rich Are They... Average Announced Except for That Assembly Member

⑭7-term Congressman Jeong Mong-jun's Era, Statistical 'Exception'
Preventing Optical Illusion When Reporting Average Assets of Congressmen
The Richest Lawmaker in the 21st National Assembly is People Power Party's Ahn Cheol-soo

Editor's Note"Political X-File" is a series that delivers the "all-time stories" recorded in the election results and incidents of Korean politics.

When someone becomes a member of the National Assembly, they are obligated to disclose their assets. They must reveal the total amount of their assets, how much is in cash, stocks, deposits, and other assets, and this information is made public. Those who possess luxury assets that they do not want others to know about become restless before the asset disclosure.

Experienced politicians usually clean up their messy assets before the asset declaration deadline, making everything neat and tidy. This is done by disposing of questionable assets or converting them into deposits before others start wondering, "Do they have assets like this?"

Ordinary members of the National Assembly might worry about how the public will react if there is much interest in their assets, but some people do not need to worry about that. When the asset disclosure time comes, the assets of that politician naturally become the top focus, so there is no reason to avoid it.

Jeong Mong-jun, former member of the National Assembly

There is a legendary saying in the National Assembly related to this. The average assets of members of the National Assembly hide a "statistical illusion"... The interesting point is that this statistical illusion is actually true.

The main cause is that a certain member with an enormous amount of assets significantly raises the overall average. The protagonist is former lawmaker Chung Mong-joon, who served seven terms in the National Assembly. Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the Asan Foundation and son of the late Chung Ju-yung, honorary chairman of Hyundai Group, was famous for his incomparable wealth during his active political career.

He was elected seven times from the 13th general election in 1988 to the 19th general election in 2012. Since the asset disclosure system was implemented, Chung Mong-joon has always been ranked number one as the wealthiest member of the National Assembly.

There are various episodes related to politician Chung Mong-joon's assets. In the asset disclosure of March 2011, he declared assets worth 3.6708 trillion won, which was evaluated to be three times more than the combined assets of all other members of the National Assembly at that time.

In the following year's disclosure in March 2012, his assets decreased by a whopping 1.6481 trillion won compared to the previous year, but the declared amount still exceeded 2 trillion won. Even though the decrease in assets was unimaginable for ordinary people, he remained the undisputed richest among the wealthy members of the National Assembly.

Because his assets were so vast, the National Assembly's Public Officials Ethics Committee introduced a special category when announcing the average assets of members of the National Assembly. Instead of the average assets of all members, they announced the average excluding Chung Mong-joon. Therefore, the phrase "excluding member Chung Mong-joon" is always attached during statistical announcements.

This means that since calculating the average including all members can fall into a statistical trap, attention should be paid to the average assets excluding member Chung Mong-joon.

Ahn Cheol-soo, a candidate for the leader of the People Power Party, is holding a press conference related to the party convention at the National Assembly on February 3. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Who filled the void left by former lawmaker Chung Mong-joon after he retired from frontline politics?

In the 20th National Assembly, a troika system was formed with Kim Byung-kwan, Kim Se-yeon, and Ahn Cheol-soo. In the asset disclosure announced in March 2017, then Democratic Party member Kim Byung-kwan declared 167.8 billion won, Bareun Party member Kim Se-yeon declared 155.8 billion won, and People's Party member Ahn Cheol-soo declared 119.5 billion won in assets.

Like politician Chung Mong-joon, these wealthy members who came from business backgrounds dominated the top ranks in asset rankings. They declared enormous assets exceeding 100 billion won, but compared to the scale of Chung Mong-joon's assets that lasted until the 19th National Assembly, their wealth was much smaller.

The top asset holder in the 21st National Assembly, announced in March 2022, was current People Power Party member Ahn Cheol-soo, who declared 134.7 billion won. With former members Kim Byung-kwan and Kim Se-yeon failing to enter the Assembly, Ahn Cheol-soo's dominance continued into the 21st National Assembly.

People Power Party member Jeon Bong-min declared 106.5 billion won in 2022, but in 2023, he declared 55.9 billion won, cutting his assets in half. As a result, the number of members of the National Assembly with assets exceeding 100 billion won decreased to just one, Ahn Cheol-soo, in the 22nd National Assembly.