The Era of 'Jomanjangja' Swept by Americans... What About Korea? [News Seolcham]

(36) 'Millionaire = Rich' is an Old Saying
'Jomanjangja' to Emerge Within 3 Years
Lee Jae-yong, Seo Jung-jin, and Other Korean Chaebols Are Billionaires
9 of the Top 10 Richest People in the World Are Americans

Editor's Note'Seolcham' is a newly coined term meaning to refer to detailed explanations. In [News Seolcham], we aim to pinpoint and explain in more detail the parts of the news that require fact-checking or further explanation.

As time has passed, the criteria for being wealthy have changed. In the past, as the title of a drama about the love of a third-generation chaebol heir, "The Millionaire's First Love" (2006) shows, the term "millionaire" was used to refer to the wealthy in Korean society. However, about 18 years later, Korean chaebols have already made it onto the billionaire list, and the first trillionaire in the United States is on the horizon.

A millionaire refers to someone with a net worth of 1 million dollars (approximately 1.344 billion KRW), and a billionaire is someone with 1 billion dollars (approximately 1.34 trillion KRW) or more. Recently, a new term "trillionaire" has emerged, referring to those with assets exceeding 1 trillion dollars (approximately 1,344 trillion KRW). In Korea, reports on wealth published by Hana Financial Research Institute and KB Financial Research Institute consider financial assets of 1 billion KRW or more as the standard for being wealthy. The average net worth of households in our country, where the proportion of real estate assets is high, is 390.18 million KRW (Statistics Korea's 'Quality of Life in Korea 2023 Report').

Among every 100 Koreans, 2.5 are already millionaires. According to the Swiss bank UBS's "2024 World Wealth Report," the number of Korean millionaires is 1,295,674, and it is expected to increase to 1,643,799 by 2028, five years later. Among the 36 countries analyzed by UBS, the country with the highest number of millionaires is the United States, with 21,951,319 people. China ranks second (6,013,282), and the United Kingdom is third (3,061,553). France, with 2,868,031 millionaires, ranks fourth.

Japan, ranked fifth, has 2,827,956 millionaires. At first glance, this number seems higher than Korea's, but the proportion of billionaires among the total population (120 million) is 2.3%, which is lower than Korea's.

Following John D. Rockefeller, the "Oil King" and founder of Standard Oil, who became the world's first billionaire in 1916, the possibility of the world's first "trillionaire" also emerging from the United States has increased. According to the "Trillionaire Club" report by Informa Connect Academy, a company specializing in asset analysis and marketing consulting, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, whose nationality is also American, is expected to become the world's first trillionaire in three years. According to Forbes' "2024 World's Billionaires Ranking," as of the 10th, his net worth is $244.9 billion.

Among the top 10 billionaires, nine are Americans. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, ranked 2nd with $19.41 billion (approximately 26 trillion KRW), and Mark Zuckerberg ranked 3rd with $17.49 billion (approximately 23 trillion KRW), are also representative American billionaires. Other notable names include famous investor Warren Buffett ($14.45 billion, approximately 19 trillion KRW) and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and once the world's richest person ($13.67 billion, approximately 18 trillion KRW). Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), ranked 4th with a net worth of $17.46 billion, is the only French national in the top ranks.

Expanding the range to the top 20, except for four individuals ? Amancio Ortega, founder of Zara (Spain) at 11th, Mukesh Ambani (India) at 12th, the Bettencourt Meyers family (France) at 19th, and the Carlos Slim family (Mexico) at 20th ? all others are Americans.

South Korea's top chaebols have also joined the billionaire ranks but are all outside the top 200. Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics, with $10.5 billion (approximately 14 trillion KRW), ranked 225th. Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion ($7.9 billion, approximately 10 trillion KRW), and Cho Jung-ho, chairman of Meritz Financial Group ($6.8 billion, approximately 9 trillion KRW), ranked 353rd and 436th, respectively.

Among the youngest billionaires, there are Koreans in the upper ranks. Forbes' "2024 Youngest Billionaires List" includes Kim Jung-yeon (20) and Kim Jung-min (22), daughters of the late Kim Jung-ju, founder of Nexon. Their net worth is valued at $1.7 billion, ranking 2nd and 5th among the youngest billionaires, respectively. Although they do not hold positions at Nexon, they inherited shares of Nexon from their father.