The exterior view of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building. (Image provided by KCCI)
SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a formal apology on Monday after acknowledging that it had released misleading material suggesting that South Korea’s high inheritance tax was driving a surge in wealthy citizens leaving the country.
The controversy escalated over the weekend when President Lee Jae Myung publicly rebuked the business lobby group, calling the report “intentional fake news” and “an enemy of democracy” in a social media post.
In a statement, the KCCI said it had cited data from an external source without sufficient verification and expressed regret for “causing unnecessary confusion.” The organization pledged to overhaul its internal review procedures and strengthen fact-checking and analytical standards among its researchers.
“By bolstering our internal verification system, we will work to improve the credibility of our releases and provide transparent information to the public,” the chamber said, adding that it would introduce new training programs and safeguards to prevent similar lapses.
The dispute stems from a press release issued last week in which the KCCI cited research by the British advisory firm Henley & Partners. The chamber said that 2,400 wealthy individuals left South Korea in 2025 — double the previous year — ranking the country fourth globally in terms of net outflows of affluent residents. It suggested that the country’s comparatively high inheritance tax could be a contributing factor.
The claim drew immediate scrutiny from economists and policy observers, who noted that the underlying data did not explicitly identify inheritance taxes as the cause of migration and that the figures were not based on official or academic statistics.
Within hours of releasing the report, the KCCI conceded that the data had limitations. On Monday, Park Il-jun, the chamber’s executive vice chairman, said during an emergency meeting with major business groups and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan that the organization was treating the matter “with utmost seriousness” and would “fully revamp” its internal systems to restore trust.
The episode underscores heightened political sensitivity around tax policy and capital mobility at a time when the Democratic Party-led government is facing mounting pressure over economic inequality and fiscal reform.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
