The Korean Rich List
There is currently no published Korean rich list, despite the Wikipedia entry, but Forbes and other chroniclers of the power elites of the world have found sufficient high profile rich in Korea as to generate accurate numbers.
Forbes magazine has hinted at Korea having at the very least 7 high billionaires living on the peninsula, and at least ten families alone who control in the high billions in assets. There are possibly another 5 Korean billionaires abroad, mostly in the USA who maintain dual citizenship.
Low billionaire families are generally accepted to number more than 10 and less than 20; while domestic newspapers have indicated that there are at least 100 families who have more than $250 million in assets: primarily real estate and land being developed; or in manufacturing who have a high enough profile as to be reasonably defined as amongst the very wealthy of the world.
Estimates on the number of Koreans who own more than a million US dollars in assets apart from their houses, and discarding all debts, are figured to be in the range of 65,000 high net worth individuals (HNWI) according to Merrill Lynch research by June 16, 2004. Article cited below.
Amongst the historically most powerful business elite leaders have been:
- Chung Ju-yung (정주영)
- Chung Mong-hun (정몽헌)
- Kim Woo-jung (김우중)
- Kim Yong-san (김용산)
- Lee Byung-chul (이병철)
Read more about this topic: Korean Ruling Class
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