Political turmoil and U.S. tariffs hurt wealth

This story is part of Forbes’ report on South Korea’s richest 2025. See the full list here.

South Korea suffered its biggest political crisis in decades, triggered by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement of martial law in December, who was suspended and eventually impeached. The turmoil and U.S. tariffs have affected the country's benchmark KOSPI index, which has dropped 15% since we last measured fate. The country's 50 richest collective net worth fell to $99 billion from $115 billion last year.

The fate of 32 people has declined, including the fate of private equity Michael King,,,,, Although his net worth dropped slightly to $9.5 billion, he recovered first place after a year's gap. His MBK partner became a high-profile spotlight after experiencing financial problems at its debt-debt Homeplus supermarket chain and applying for company recovery.

wealth Jay Y. LeeSamsung Electronics' executive chairman, also fell by $3.7 billion to $7.8 billion, falling from the wealthiest person last year to second place. The company is slow to drive the AI ​​boom, making it one of the laggards in tech stocks.

The biggest gain in USD this year is Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-Hohis wealth rose by $1.5 billion to $7.7 billion, and he climbed into a place to become the third richest man in the country. Financial Heavyweight reported that after the merger of its insurance and securities units, net profit in 2024 was 23 trillion won (US$1.6 billion).

Another luck that was hit was Kwak Dong Shinchairman and CEO of Hammi Semiconductor, whose wealth fell to more than two-thirds to $1.25 billion. As revenue growth loses momentum, semiconductor packaging equipment manufacturers have far more than half of their stocks.

The biggest gain in percentage is The park is fastAlteogen, co-founder and CEO of Biotech's Alteogen, grew 68% to $2.4 billion after signing a series of lucrative licensing agreements. In March, it signed two $1.4 billion worth of value with pharmaceutical giant Astrazeneca to use its enzyme technology to develop subcutaneous (injected under the skin) cancer drugs.

There are three new immigrants this year: Kim Jung-soo & Chun In-Jangthe couple behind Samyang Foods got the elevator from overseas sales of spicy Buldak noodles. Kim Hyung-Taethe online game developer's founder shift rose, joining the ranking after raising $320 million in South Korea's second largest listing last year. and Jung Sung-jaefounder of Medical Aesthetic Equipment Company, has seen a 50% share increase due to the growing craze for K-Beauty.

After getting off the bus, four lists returned to the rankings Lee Hwa-kyungowns a stake in Orion Holdings, parents of the Candy and Food Group founded by her late father Lee Yang-gu. Seven people did not advance last year, including former billionaire Ryu Kwang-Ji, whose chemicals and electric vehicle battery maker Kumyang has slowed down due to electric vehicle sales. The list's minimum net worth fell from $775 million last year to $665 million.

Full coverage of the richest in South Korea in 2025:

Reports by John Kang and Zinnia Lee.

Methodology:

The list is prepared using equity and financial information obtained from households and individuals, stock exchanges, annual reports, analysts, government agencies and other sources. Net assets are based on stock prices and exchange rates at the end of the market on April 7, 2025, and private companies are valued based on the value of similar companies that are publicly traded. Real-time net assets on forbes.com may reflect different valuations. The ranking lists individual and family destiny, including ones shared among relatives, and may differ from the list of billionaires in the world, including individual destiny as of March 7 to March 7. The list may also include foreign citizens with business, residence or other countries or other countries or other countries that have business, residence or other countries or other countries that have no residence with the country or are not residing in the country. Editor reserves the right to modify any information or delete any list based on the new information.