Chaebol Shareholding to Be Unveiled Next Month

Shareholding of close relatives (including up to third cousins on paternal side and up to direct cousins on maternal side) of conglomerates’ owners will be disclosed next month at the earliest.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said on June 22 that it had received detailed shareholding statements of close relatives from 51 conglomerates with assets exceeding two trillion won by April 1, and is now in the process of a thorough analysis and the result will be released in July at the earliest.

So far, on every April 1, the FTC makes public only combined “internal shareholdings” of conglomerate owners and their families, special interest individuals, executives, and affiliates.

The FTC will not reveal the real names of the relatives. Instead, relatives will be categorized into “1-cheon (spouse and direct family),” “2~4-cheon,” “5~8-cheon” while in-laws will be categorized into one group of “4-cheon or closer.” Shareholdings by non-profit corporations and affiliates will be included in this disclosure.

The FTC plans to release a report on the current structures of ownership and management for each conglomerate based on this data.

The FTC said, “Due to privacy concerns, the real names and individual shareholdings will not be disclosed. However, structures of their ownership and management, and improvements made by them will be understood to a great extent.

Chi-Young Shin higgledy@donga.com