Candidate Lee Suk-yeon: "I Will Donate 3.7 Billion Won Worth of Unlisted Stocks Owned by My Husband and Daughter"

Lee Suk-yeon, a nominee for Supreme Court Justice (age 56, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 26), apologized a day before the National Assembly confirmation hearing regarding controversies over her 20-year-old daughter's stock investments and real estate purchases. She announced that the unlisted stocks worth approximately 3.7 billion KRW currently held by her husband and daughter will be donated to society.

In a statement on the 24th, Lee said, "There was no illegality in the process of purchasing the multi-family house by my eldest daughter or in acquiring and transferring the unlisted stocks, and all related taxes were paid faithfully." However, she added, "Even if there is no legal issue, I have realized through this opportunity that it does not meet the public's expectations and does not align with sound values," expressing her apology.

Lee also expressed her intention to donate the unlisted stocks currently held by her daughter and husband "for the benefit of the underprivileged in our society." The daughter holds 400 shares of company A, a cosmetics research and development (R&D) firm, while the husband holds 3,465 shares. Based on the stock price in May last year when the daughter sold 400 shares to her father, the market value is estimated at 3.7248 billion KRW.

It was revealed that Lee's daughter bought the shares of company A with 3 million KRW of her own money and 9 million KRW borrowed from her father, and sold them to her father last year for 385.292 million KRW, drawing criticism for "evasive gifting." This resulted in approximately 63 times the capital gains over six years. Using these funds, the daughter purchased a multi-family house in the redevelopment area of Yongsan-gu, Seoul, for 770 million KRW.

Lee's husband, Cho Hyung-seop, co-CEO of Donghaeng Lottery, has decided to resign from his position. Cho is under police investigation for alleged violations of the Lottery Act. He also plans to resign as co-CEO of Jeju Semiconductor, a KOSDAQ-listed company. According to the appointment consent request submitted to the National Assembly, Lee reported total assets of 17.0899 billion KRW, of which her husband's assets amount to 11.71904 billion KRW.