The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said it will take legal action against those responsible at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which sparked a fake news controversy with a press release titled "Outflow of high net worth individuals from Korea," depending on the results of an audit.
Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) held an emergency meeting to review pending issues with six business groups, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Federation of Korean Industries, and the Korea International Trade Association, at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Seoul on the 9th, and said, "As the minister in charge of KORCHAM, I deeply apologize to the public," adding, "This case is an example of forgetting the public duty and responsibility as a statutory organization."
The issue is a press release distributed by KORCHAM on the 3rd titled "Fourth in the world for outflow of asset holders due to inheritance tax burden."
The Minister said, "The statistics cited in the press release are merely estimates by an immigration consulting firm, not a professional research agency," adding, "Concerns about serious reliability issues have already been raised by foreign media and research institutions." The Minister also pointed out, "Nevertheless, KORCHAM cited and spread the material without even minimal verification procedures."
In particular, the Minister said, "Nowhere in the consulting firm's material is there any mention of the inheritance tax, yet KORCHAM arbitrarily linked it to the inheritance tax issue." The Minister also stressed that the claim in the press release that "the outflow of Korea's millionaires doubled to 2,400 over the past year" is inaccurate, as National Tax Service statistics show an annual average of only 139.
The Minister said, "This case has thrown the public and the market into confusion and seriously undermined trust in the overall policy environment."
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) has immediately begun an audit of the entire process of drafting, verifying, and distributing KORCHAM's press release, and plans to hold those responsible strictly accountable, including disciplinary action and legal measures, depending on the audit results.
In addition, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said it plans to institutionalize policy roundtables with major business groups and associations starting at the end of this month to strengthen communication between government policy and the field.