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734 Korean newborns start life with $72,000 in assets
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By Jun Ji-hye
More than 700 newborns received gifts averaging nearly 100 million won ($72,000) at birth last year, highlighting the economic disparities that exist from the very start of life and drawing renewed attention to wealth inequality across Korean society, according to an opposition party lawmaker Thursday.
Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party cited gift tax records submitted by the National Tax Service, which show that a total of 734 gifts amounting to 67.1 billion won were made to infants in 2024, an average of 91.41 million won per baby.
Compared with the previous year, the number of gifts to newborns rose by 98, while the total value of bestowed assets grew by 5.6 billion won, signaling a gradual increase in wealth transfers at the earliest stage of life.
Breaking down the gifts by asset type, financial assets led with 554 cases totaling 39 billion won, followed by securities at 156 cases worth 18.6 billion won. Land accounted for 20 gifts valued at 2.6 billion won, while buildings represented 12 gifts, also worth 2.6 billion won.
Per-person gifts to minors was highest for those aged 16 to 18, just before reaching adulthood, indicating that wealth transfers tend to peak as children approach adult age.
Sixteen-year-olds received an average of 147.19 million won, highest among all age groups, followed by 17-year-olds with 110.63 million won and 18-year-olds with 110.11 million won.
In total, minors 18 and under received 14,217 gifts last year, totaling 1.24 trillion won, with an average of 87 million won per child.
“Tax authorities should closely examine any schemes, loopholes or evasive practices used to avoid tax obligations when transferring wealth to young children,” Park said. “They must actively conduct audits and monitor these transactions to ensure untaxed wealth transfers are effectively prevented and properly addressed.”