The Government Ethics Committee said Tuesday the wealth of 1,000 high-ranking officials increased on average W140 million last year. President Roh Moo-hyun reported assets worth W829.3 million, up W94.47 million from a year ago due to savings from his salary and investment in stock funds. Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan increased his assets by a mere W4.89 million to W748.9 million and National Assembly Speaker Kim Won-gi by W91 million to W1.293 billion. Chief Justice Lee Yong-hun and Constitutional Court President Yun Young-chul also increased their wealth to W3.853 billion and W2.977 billion.

In the Cabinet, Information and Communication Minister Chin Dae-je was the biggest winner, increasing his assets by W4 billion. The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs had the most financial wizards with some 150 officials or 23.2 percent boosting their wealth by over W100 million and 128 by between W50-100 million. In the Justice Ministry, 29 out of 131 high-ranking judges added more than W100 million to their wealth, with 58 reporting total assets worth more than W1 billion.

Out of the 294 lawmakers required to report their wealth, 216 became richer, 91 or 30.9 percent of them by W100 million or more. But 76 became poorer, 14 of them by W100 million or more. Independent Chung Mong-joon was the richest lawmaker being worth W264.8 billion. GNP lawmaker Kim Yang-soo saw the biggest increase in wealth with W8.2 billion, while another GNP member, Chung Ui-hwa, was the biggest loser, seeing his assets dwindle by W3.8 billion.

By party, the richest was the Millennium Democratic Party, whose members owned assets worth W2.55 billion on average, followed by the GNP with W1.78 billion a head, the People First Party with W1.25 billion, and the Uri Party with W1.03 billion. True to its affiliations, Democratic Labor Party members were the poorest with W290 million on average.

(englishnews@chosun.com )