Most Lawmakers Get Richer

Most lawmakers have gotten even richer as some 80 percent of 289 lawmakers reported increased wealth in a recent asset declaration released by the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Minjoo Party lawmaker Kim Byoung-gwan is the fattest cat in parliament with assets totaling W276.3 billion, followed by Liberty Korea Party lawmakers Kim Se-yeon (W96.6 billion) and Park Duk-hyum (W52.3 billion) (US$1=W1,136).

Kim Byoung-gwan ran computer game developer Webzen before he went into politics, and most of his assets are stocks in the company. His assets totaled W443.5 billion last year but declined because Webzen's stock price fell.

The average assets owned by the remaining 286 lawmakers stood at W2.4 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent since last year.

Some 79.3 percent saw their assets swell largely due to inflating real estate prices, while the assets of the rest shrank.