According to a report by Financial News, nearly half of elected and appointed high-ranking officials in South Korea are multiple property owners, with many holding two or more houses. An analysis by Leaders Index of 2,581 officials with the rank of grade 4 or higher revealed that 48.8% own at least two properties, and 17.8% own three or more.
The total disclosed assets of these officials amount to 5.7134 trillion won, with 58.7% (or 3.3556 trillion won) represented by building assets. This includes 4,527 residential properties valued at 2.3156 trillion won. Among the housing types, apartments accounted for more than half at 58.9% (2,665 units), valued at 1.7750 trillion won (76.7%). Other property types included single-family homes (16.6%), multi-use buildings (8.6%), and officetels (6.9%).
Among different groups, senior government officials hold the most properties on average, with 1.89 units per person. Municipal mayors own an average of 1.87, local council and public institution officials 1.71, and members of the National Assembly own an average of 1.41 units.
Most properties are located in Seoul. Although Seoul houses only comprise about 29.7% (1,344 units) of the total number of properties, their value constitutes 57.6% (1.3338 trillion won) of the total asset value. A significant concentration of these properties is in the affluent “Gangnam 3 districts”—Gangnam (229 units), Seocho (206 units), and Songpa (123 units)—which together account for 41.5% of the Seoul properties. Yongsan follows with 74 units.
The public official with the highest number of properties is Jo Sung-myung, the mayor of the Gangnam district, who holds 42 properties. His holdings include one apartment in Gangnam and 38 officetels in Goyang, as well as one officetel in Sokcho, and his spouse owns two multi-use buildings in Gangnam.
Among National Assembly members, the largest property owner is Park Min-kyu from the Democratic Party, who owns 13 properties. This includes one jointly-owned apartment in Seocho, 11 officetels in Gwanak, and a multi-use building in Dangjin, Chungnam in his name.