Presidential Office's Lee Won-mo Tops with 39.8 Billion Won... Average 4.87 Billion Won [2025 Asset Disclosure]

Kim Dongjo, Secretary for National Planning, Increases Assets by 2.4 Billion KRW Compared to Previous Report

Yonhap News

Among presidential office aides at the secretary level and above, Lee Won-mo, the Secretary for Public Service Discipline, reported assets totaling 39.8 billion KRW, making him the wealthiest official. The average assets of presidential office aides at the secretary level and above, including Chief Secretary Jeong Jin-seok, were approximately 4.867 billion KRW.

According to the "2025 Regular Asset Changes of Senior Public Officials" data published in the government gazette on the 27th by the Public Service Ethics Committee, among 54 presidential office aides at the secretary level and above, the official with the highest assets was Lee Won-mo, Secretary for Public Service Discipline, with a total of 39.78948 billion KRW.

Secretary Lee's assets increased by 659.07 million KRW compared to the previous report. The largest portion of his assets was stocks worth 27.867 billion KRW owned by his wife, who is the daughter of the chairman of a foundation related to a large oriental medicine hospital. Secretary Lee also held an apartment pre-sale right in Yongsan-gu under his name and a commercial building in Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, owned by his wife.

Kim Dong-jo, Secretary for National Planning, reported assets of 35.379 billion KRW, ranking second among presidential office aides. Formerly an analyst, Secretary Kim increased his assets by 2.39115 billion KRW in the past year alone. Most of his assets were unlisted stocks owned by himself, valued at 34.415 billion KRW. These included 22,200 shares of Korea Steel, 32,400 shares of Korea Holdings, and 200 shares of Kim Dong-jo Corporation, which is known as a family company.

Secretary Kim explained, "Korea Steel's net profit for 2023 was revised from 94.7 billion KRW at the provisional settlement to a final 100.7 billion KRW, which increased the valuation. Kim Dong-jo Corporation was not subject to asset reporting last year due to a blind trust, but this year it was excluded from the blind trust (due to a change in business purpose) and thus included in the asset report."

Hong Cheol-ho, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs and founder of "Goobne Chicken," reported assets of 26.1379 billion KRW, an increase of 673.03 million KRW from the previous report. He declared 393,600 shares of Plus One, an unlisted stock he owns, valued at 21.972 billion KRW.

Jang Ho-jin, Special Advisor for Foreign and Security Affairs, reported assets of 16.03983 billion KRW, up by 230.34 million KRW, and Kim Tae-hyo, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, reported 14.8031 billion KRW, an increase of 763.48 million KRW. Policy Chief Seong Tae-yoon's assets rose by 1.33026 billion KRW to 10.14248 billion KRW.

Shin Yong-seok, Cybersecurity Secretary and former Chief Information Security Officer of Viva Republica, which operates "Toss," reported assets of approximately 9.3 billion KRW, an increase of 5.487 billion KRW from the previous report. Following him were Chief Secretary Jeong Jin-seok (8.888 billion KRW), Wang Yoon-jong, Third Deputy Director of the National Security Office (8.718 billion KRW), and Shin Su-jin, Secretary for Culture and Sports (8.074 billion KRW).

Lee Do-woon, Senior Secretary for Public Relations, held assets of 4.2137 billion KRW, and Kim Ju-hyun, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, reported assets of approximately 4.2075 billion KRW.