Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee retained his title as the wealthiest stock holder in the country with stocks valued at approximately 11 trillion won as of Feb. 28.

The recent rise of Naver stocks made NHN Entertainment chairman Lee Jun-ho a first time-trillionaire in the stock market, reported market researcher Chaebul.com. With Lee’s advancement, Korea has a total of 17 trillionaires in terms of stock holdings ― the figure is the highest in the country’s history.

According to the website, Lee Jun-ho, chairman of NHN Entertainment and co-founder of the country’s largest search portal Naver, joined the trillionaire club with stocks worth just over 1 trillion won as of Feb. 28, thanks to a 12.3 percent rise in Naver shares over the past three months.

At the top however, was Samsung’s Lee, followed by Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo and his son Eui-sun, who are believed to possess 6.9 trillion won and 3.1 trillion won, respectively, in company stocks.

Coming in fourth place was Amore Pacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae with 2.9 trillion won, followed by SK group chairman Chey Tae-won with 2.7 trillion won. 

CJ group chairman Lee Jay-hyun held 1.6 trillion won for eighth place. Hong Ra-hee, Lee Kun-hee’s wife and director of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, and her son Jay-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, placed 11th and 15th, respectively.

Kim Taek-jin, CEO of game development company NCsoft, and Lock & Lock founder Kim Joon-il slipped from the trillionaire list this year. Kim of NCsoft sold some of his shares while the kitchenware founder saw a fall in the value of his shares.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)