On the 5th, Policy Deputy Minister Kim Yong-beom said he "took it as a shock" and called it "a very sad and depressing set of statistics," referring to the results of the "2025 Household Finance and Welfare Survey" (hereinafter HFWS), which said the top 10% in Korea hold nearly half of total net worth. He added, however, that "because it is based on the first half of 2025, it has nothing to do with the Lee Jae-myung administration's performance." The statistics are based on data as of the end of March this year.
At a briefing at the Yongsan presidential office that day, Deputy Minister Kim took a question about the HFWS results released the previous day by the National Data Office, the Bank of Korea, and the Financial Services Commission (FSC), and answered, "Even back when I was at the Financial Services Commission (FSC), I have looked at the HFWS for decades, but this is the set of statistics that made me the most depressed." He also said, "The figures were far worse than I expected, which jolted me wide awake."
He said, "Although it is not the performance of the Lee Jae-myung administration, as someone who has dealt with economic policy, many areas have very much gone in reverse," adding, "This is completely different from simply saying the economic growth rate was lower than in the previous period. Distribution has deteriorated to the worst level." He also said, "I personally took it as a huge shock," and, "In the end, all the tasks have fallen to us (the government)."
Deputy Minister Kim said, "It will be very difficult to bring these figures back even to a trend of slight improvement in the previous period," and announced that going forward, the policy office will conduct in-depth analysis at the level of related ministries in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), and the Financial Services Commission (FSC). He continued, "We have been handed a very weighty task," adding, "How to improve this will be a major assignment for the policy office and the ministries going forward. We need to organize our thoughts and think hard about government programs."
According to the HFWS, as of the end of March this year, the average household net worth was 471.44 million won, up 5% from a year earlier. Net worth increased across all income quintiles from the second quintile upward. The second quintile rose 3.3%, the third 2.2%, and the fourth 4.7%. In particular, the fifth quintile—the top 20%—at 1.11365 billion won increased 7.9%, the largest gain. In contrast, the net worth of the bottom 20% in the first quintile fell 4.9% to 142.44 million won. While average household net worth rose, vulnerable groups became "poorer," deepening inequality.