Most of high-ranking officials are SNU graduates in 50s living in Seoul metropolitan area

High-ranking officials appointed or remain under the Park Geun-hye administration proved to be mostly Seoul National University graduates in their mid-50s who are from the Seoul metropolitan area, according to a study on 281 high-ranking officials.

Many of them began their career as a civil servant after passing a state examination and currently live in the posh three districts of southern Seoul -- Gangnam, Seocho and Songpa districts.

Based on assets of 162 officials were publicized on official gazettes, the average asset value is worth 1.24 billion won (1.1 million U.S. dollars). The assets of the rest whose assets have not been publicized were not included from this calculation.

Gender Equality and Family Minister Cho Yoon-sun reported the most with 4.7 billion won (4.2 million dollars), followed by Lee Chang-han, head of the planning and coordination office at the Science, ICT & Future Planning Ministry, with 4.54 billion won (4 million dollars). Choi Jae-hae at the Audit and Inspection Board was the only high-ranking official with minus net asset worth minus 73 million won (65,000 dollars).

According to a survey by the National Statistical Office last year, an average net asset of upper 20 percent of the people was 836 million won (740,000 dollars). Therefore, 55 percent of the survey participants have assets worth more than this.

Per section, 38.9 percent reported having assets worth between 500 million to 1 billion won (443,000-887,000 dollars), followed by 29 percent between 1 billion to 2 billion won (887,000 dollars-1.8 million dollars), and 17.3 percent with more than 2 billion won (1.8 million dollars). 14.8 percent reported assets less than 500 million won (443,000 dollars).

Out of 209 whose residences were identified through official gazettes and news covering, 37.8 percent live in southern Seoul: Gangnam had the most with 33, followed by Seocho with 27 and Songpa with 19. In Gangnam, Daechi-dong neighborhood famous for private academic institutes topped with 12. Twelve officials live in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province where Bundang is located.

Seventy-two percent of the high-ranking officials live in Seoul, and 23 percent in Gyeonggi Province, suggesting 95 percent of them living in the Seoul metropolitan area. Most of the officials working in the administrative capital of Sejong are reported to have their residences in Seoul. These people stay in Sejong during weekdays in their rented homes and spend weekends in their homes in Seoul.