The number of stock-rich South Korean minors jumped 10 percent this month from a year earlier, data showed Monday, as more rich people handed over wealth to their offspring in advance to pay less gift tax.
According to the data by local research firm Chaebul.com, the number of minors with shares worth more than 100 million won ($89,887) came to 268 as of Friday, compared to 243 tallied a year earlier.
The number of South Korean minors with shares worth more than 1 billion won also jumped 31.3 percent over the cited period to reach 105, the data also said. Of the minors tallied, seven of them had shares worth more than 10 billion won.
The richest in terms of value of shares held was the GS Group's Executive Vice President Huh Yong-su's eldest son, whose shares were worth 44.5 billion won, trailed by his second son at 18 billion won.
The eldest son of Chung Mong-jin, who heads chemicals maker KCC Corp., ranked third with 17.2 billion won.
The research firm said the on-year increase was brought on by a drop in the local bourse this year that made it cheaper for stockholders to turn over shares to their kids. Lower stock prices translate into lower gift taxes.
South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,920.11 Friday, down 1.97 percent from 1,957.91 tallied a year earlier. (Yonhap News)
