On February 3, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) 대한상공회의소 issued a press release calling for lower estate taxes and claiming that 2.4k high net-worth individuals left South Korea in 2025 to avoid the country’s high estate taxes. In other words, it was a typical press release from the KCCI, which speaks for South Korea’s large corporations and wealthy individuals. Conservative outlets, led by Chosun Ilbo 조선일보, picked up on the release to accuse the Lee Jae-myung 이재명 administration of trying to soak the rich.
This backfired, however, when the chief premise of the press release, which had been supplied by the British consulting firm Hanley and Partners, proved to be little more than an unscientific estimate cribbed from a wealth management company’ marketing materials. After the KCCI missed its shot, it was Lee’s turn, and he aimed right between the eyes: “It’s hard to believe an official organization like the KCCI would pursue private interests and attack public policy by spreading fake news like this.” The KCCI issued a statement of apology, admitting that the statistics had been “insufficiently vetted.”
