Stock-backed loans by owners of South Korea’s top 50 business groups grew by nearly 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) in one year, reaching 10 trillion won ($7.4 billion).
According to corporate tracker Leaders Index on July 1, 129 owners had taken out loans totaling 9.92 trillion won as of June 20, up from 98 owners with 7.11 trillion won a year earlier. This marks a 28.4% increase, or about 2.81 trillion won.
Samsung leads the list. Loans in the names of Hong Ra-hee, honorary director of the Leeum Museum of Art, and her two daughters—Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, head of strategic planning at Samsung C&T—jumped 76.2%, from 2.93 trillion won to 5.17 trillion won.
Individually, Hong had the largest loan, rising 68% from 1.78 trillion won to 2.99 trillion won. Lee Boo-jin’s loans nearly doubled to 1.10 trillion won, up 90.3%, while Lee Seo-hyun’s rose 87.3% to 1.07 trillion won.
The three Samsung heiresses ranked first to third in individual loan amounts. Following them were SK Chairman Chey Tae-won (489.5 billion won), Asan Foundation Chairman Chung Mong-joon (371.5 billion won), and LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo (301.5 billion won).
