Among President Lee Jae-myung's Cheong Wa Dae aides, 14 were tallied as multi-homeowners as of the end of last year. As Lee decided to exclude public officials who own "multiple dwellings or one non-resident home" from real estate policy discussions, the figure excludes apartment pre-sale rights; overseas dwellings; and stores, offices, officetels, and neighborhood living facilities. Mixed-use buildings (residential plus commercial) were included. With Lee recently putting his non-resident single home, a Bundang apartment, on the market as part of a "real estate normalization" push, attention is on what choices multi-homeowning Cheong Wa Dae aides will make.
◇The most dwellings owned is seven… four with three homes, nine with two
The Government Public Officials Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Personnel Management on the 26th released the assets of senior officials. Among Cheong Wa Dae aides, the person with the most dwellings is Kim Sang-ho, director of the Chunchugwan press center, with seven. Kim reported seven units, including six multi-family dwellings in Seoul's Gangnam District and one apartment in Gwangjin District. The properties are jointly owned with a spouse, and their current value totals 7.63 billion won.
There are four who own three homes: Moon Jin-young, senior secretary for social affairs; Choi Seong-ah, secretary for foreign media; Lee Seong-hun, secretary for land, infrastructure and transport; and Jeong Jeong-ok, secretary for gender equality and family. Moon owns, in her name, an apartment in Ichon-dong, Yongsan District (1.884 billion won) and a mixed-use building in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam District (102 million won), among others. Choi reported apartments in Seongdong District (686 million won) and Jung District (1.327 billion won, jointly owned with a spouse), and a mixed-use building in Sokcho, Gangwon Province (509 million won).
Lee owns, jointly with a spouse, an apartment in Naseong-dong, Sejong (794 million won), and, in the spouse's name, a multi-household dwelling in Daechi-dong, Gangnam District (472 million won) and a partial equity in an apartment in Dogok-dong, Gangnam District (190 million won). Jeong owns, in her name, an apartment in Dochon-dong, Seongnam (451 million won), a mixed-use building in Guri, Gyeonggi Province (288 million won), and a mixed-use building in Iui-dong, Suwon (186 million won).
A total of nine people were tallied as owning two dwellings. Bong Uk, senior presidential secretary for civil affairs; Cho Seong-ju, senior presidential secretary for personnel affairs; Kim Hyun-ji, head of the first lady's office; Kwon Soon-jeong, secretary for national agenda planning; Lee Tae-hyung, secretary for civil affairs; Yoon Seong-hyeok, secretary for industrial policy; Kim So-jung, secretary for cyber security; and Oh Hyun-joo, third deputy for national security, reported owning two homes. Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung is listed in the official gazette as owning two dwellings, but is effectively a single-homeowner after reportedly selling a Yongin, Giheung apartment (333 million won) and keeping only the spouse's Banpo ACRO River Park unit (4.3 billion won).
Separately, Lee Ju-han, secretary for science and technology research funding, and Lee Min-ju, secretary for national public relations, each reported, in addition to one home, holding an apartment pre-sale right and an overseas dwelling, respectively.
◇Nvidia and Tesla are popular overseas stocks among Cheong Wa Dae aides
Stock holdings also draw attention. Lee Jang-hyung, secretary for legal affairs, holds 9,666 shares of Tesla (worth about 6.237 billion won). Lee's eldest son and daughter also hold 5,767 and 5,770 Tesla shares, respectively. Secretary Lee Tae-hyung sold domestic stocks and newly acquired overseas stocks including Nvidia (12 shares in her name and 27 in the spouse's) and Tesla (43 shares in the spouse's).
Senior secretary Cho Seong-ju bought 100 shares of Palantir Technologies and 32 shares of Nvidia. Ha Jung-woo, senior secretary for AI future planning, holds 129 shares of Nvidia, and Park Seon-ah, secretary for national archives, also holds 31 shares of Tesla.
Lee Jang-hyung, secretary for legal affairs, reported 13.416 billion won in assets, ranking as the wealthiest among Cheong Wa Dae aides. That is up 4.417 billion won from the assets reported when Lee joined Cheong Wa Dae last year. The increase reflects gains in the valuation of Tesla shares (about 21,000 shares) held in Lee's and the two children's names. Lee reported that stock holdings alone rose by about 4.217 billion won, from 9.465 billion won to 13.682 billion won.
Next are Secretary Lee Min-ju (7.984 billion won); Office of National Security Director Wi Sung-lac (6.143 billion won); Chunchugwan Director Kim Sang-ho (5.996 billion won); Secretary Lee Tae-hyung (5.903 billion won); and Senior Secretary Moon Jin-young (5.714 billion won), all with assets over 5 billion won.
Cho Han-sang, secretary for public relations planning, was counted as the top asset holder at Cheong Wa Dae when senior officials' assets were disclosed on Jan. 30 this year, reporting 9.55 billion won. This time, however, the Daechi-dong apartment and neighborhood living facilities in the parents' names (263.9 billion won for the father and 339.8 billion won for the mother) were excluded from the list as "independent livelihood maintenance" assets. The reported assets are 4.03 billion won.