Data also showed that there were 360 business owners who are teenagers or under, as of August this year. Among them, 20 earned over 100 million won, 41 between 50 million and 100 million won, and the rest below 50 million won. One of these young high-earners was under five years old.
Seoul had the highest number of such minors, with 231 who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, followed by Gyeonggi Province with 61, Incheon with 22, and Busan with 18.
It seems that some wealthy Koreans have transferred portions of their businesses or assets to their children to save on inheritance or gift tax by registering them as proxy owners, since there are no age limitations for establishing business ownership in Korea.
Lawmaker Jin Sun-mee of the main opposition Democratic Party expressed concerns, saying that these wealthy minors indicate "an increasing wealth gap amid income disparity" in Korea, and called for tighter regulations to prevent illegal practices in inheritance and tax evasion.
