The average assets of newly registered lawmakers was higher than the overall average for National Assembly members, due mainly to the election of a wealthy former businessman.

New lawmakers held an average of 3.42 billion won ($3 million) in assets, with the richest figure, Kim Byoung-gwan, the former head of local game developing company Webzen, holding 234.1 billion won, data showed Friday.
  Yonhap
According to the research conducted by the parliamentary ethics committee on 154 lawmakers who did not serve in the previous term, The Minjoo Party of Korea held 5.2 billion on average and the ruling Saenuri Party 2.6 billion won. The runner-up opposition People’s Party and the progressive minority Justice Party stood at 1.4 billion won and 384.6 million won, respectively.

The Minjoo Party’s high figure was largely due to by Rep. Kim, who turned out to be the richest not only among newly-registered lawmakers, but among the entire 300-member legislature. Rep. Kim‘s assets thus outran those of Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, former co-chief of the People’s Party and computer vaccine developer, which stood at 192.9 billion won.

With Kim out of the count, his party’s average dipped below that of the Saenuri, down to 1.6 billion won, and the assembly‘s total average to 1.9 billion won.

The largest part of his assets were his 204 billion won worth of Webzen stocks, 5.8 billion won in bank deposits, and real estate amounting to 2.9 billion won, data showed.

In contrast, Rep. Kim Joong-ro, a former military official and first-term proportional representative of the People’s Party, was the most hard-pressed financially, with 210 million won worth of debt.

Also, several members were noted for their unique assets, ranging from antiques, intellectual property rights, and valued musical instruments.

Rep. Sohn Hye-won of the Minjoo Party held 139 pieces of fine art, worth some 2.8 billion won in total. Her collection included a wooden chest from the 17th- or 18th-century Joseon era, whose appraised value was registered as 150 million won.

Former Go master Rep. Cho Hoon-hyun of the Saenuri Party claimed an income of 50 million won from his book, while Rep. Joo Kwang-deok of the same party declared a 65 million-won viola owned by his wife.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)