On the First Day of General Election Candidate Registration, 21 Candidates Have Assets Over 5 Billion Won... 1st Place is Ahn Cheol-soo

Democratic Party's Top Wealth Holder is Assemblyman Park Jeong with 35.1 Billion Won
11 Members Also Report Negative Assets

On the first day of candidate registration for the April 10 general election, April 21, 21 candidates in the constituencies reported assets exceeding 5 billion KRW. The average assets per registered candidate amount to approximately 2.8 billion KRW.

Candidate Kim Eun-hye, running for the 22nd National Assembly election in Seongnam Bundang-eul, Gyeonggi Province (from the left), and Ahn Cheol-soo, the People Power Party candidate running in Bundang-gap, are entering the Bundang District Election Commission in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 21st to register as candidates. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

According to the National Election Commission, as of 7 PM on the same day, 311 candidates who completed constituency registration reported total assets of 887.16995 billion KRW, with an average asset per person of 2.852434 billion KRW.

There are 21 candidates (6.8%) who reported assets of 5 billion KRW or more. 147 candidates (47.3%) reported assets between 1 billion and 5 billion KRW, 70 candidates (22.5%) between 500 million and 1 billion KRW, 50 candidates (16.1%) between 100 million and 500 million KRW, and 23 candidates (7.4%) reported assets below 100 million KRW.

The candidate with the highest assets is Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party, running in Bundang-gap, Gyeonggi Province, with 140.135485 billion KRW.

Among the Democratic Party candidates, the one with the highest assets is Park Jeong, running in Paju-eul, Gyeonggi Province. Park's assets amount to 35.170748 billion KRW.

Among parties fielding five or more candidates, the People Power Party has the highest average assets per candidate at 5.039543 billion KRW. The Democratic Party follows with 1.70609 billion KRW, the Reform New Party with 1.479477 billion KRW, New Future with 732.865 million KRW, the Labor Party with 311.27 million KRW, and the Progressive Party with 203.427 million KRW.

For parties with fewer than five candidates, the average assets are as follows: Sonamudang 853.846 million KRW, Liberty Unification Party 666.955 million KRW, Uri Gonghwadang 504.48 million KRW, Liberty Democracy Party 105.07 million KRW, and Korea Farmers and Fishermen Party 49.01 million KRW.

Fifteen independent candidates hold a total of 14.995308 billion KRW, averaging 999.687 million KRW per person.

Eleven candidates reported 'negative assets' due to debts exceeding their assets. The candidate with the largest debt is Lee Seong-sim of the People Power Party, running in Gwanak-eul, Seoul, with 583.945 million KRW in debt. Among Democratic Party candidates, the one with the largest debt is Jeong Jun-ho, running in Buk-gap, Gwangju, with 479.294 million KRW in debt.