hankyoreh

By Kim Hoe-seung, staff reporter

An investigation has found that there are 118 young people with stock holdings of least 100 million won (US$91,325).

A May 5 investigation conducted by the website Chaebul.com on the estimated value (as of the close of markets on Apr. 30) of the stocks held by people related to major stockholders in publicly listed companies found that there are 118 people under the age of 12 (born after Apr. 30, 2000) who have at least 100 million won in stocks. At the same point in time last year, in 2012, there were 102 such people.

This year, there were 31 youngsters with more than 1 billion won in stocks, and 2 with more than 10 billion won.

Ranked in order of estimated value, the oldest son, 12, of Huh Yong-su, the vice president of GS Energy (cousin of Huh Chang-Soo, chairman of GS Group) was first with 42.99 billion won. Huh’s second son, 9, was second in the ranking with 17.46 billion won.

Huh’s oldest son was first given 259,000 shares of stock in GS in 2004, at the age of 3, and today this has increased to 760,341 shares.

Next on the list is a group of seven relatives of Lim Sung-ki , chairman of Hanmi Pharmaceuticals. They each hold about 8 billion won worth of stocks that they were given in Hanmi Science and Hanmi Pharmaceuticals.

The values of stock held by the eldest son, 12, and second son, 10, of Koo Bon-chun, head of LB Investment and son-in-law of former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, were 6.05 billion won and 5.55 billion won, respectively.

Other children at the top of the pack were the daughter (10 years old, 5.27 billion won) of Park Sang-don, chairman of Yeshin Group; two sons (both 9 years old, 4.25 billion won each) of Hwang Woo-sung, chairman of Seoul Pharma; and the eldest son (11 years old, 2.19 billion won) and second son (9 years old, 3.62 billion won) of Philip Chun, chairman of Paradise Group.

Furthermore, the son, 7, and daughter, 10, of Cho Hyun-beom, president of Hankook Tire and son-in-law of former president Lee Myung-bak, have 810 million won and 800 million won worth of stocks, respectively.

The survey also found that the nephew of Koo Bon-chun and the granddaughter of Song Gong-seok, president of Watos Corea, hold 160 million won and 100 million won in stocks, respectively. The two are one year old this year.

It is a frequent occurrence for major shareholders in Korea’s chaebol to trade the stocks they have given their young children or relatives and use the profit gained from the difference in value to incrementally increase the amount of stock they control.

For example, three grandsons of Cho Suk-rae, chairman of the Hyosung Group, purchased 80-90 million won each of Hyosung stock in 2008. They cashed in this stock in Oct. 2010 after the price had quadrupled, earning about 3 billion won each in profits. Then in May 2012 they purchased about 5 billion won more in the same stock, nearly tripling the amount of stock they controlled.

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