The industry ministry has launched an audit into the "fake news" incident involving the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the minister said Monday, vowing to hold the major business lobby group accountable for the incident if necessary.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan made the remarks in an emergency meeting with six major business lobby groups here held a few days after President Lee Jae Myung scolded the KCCI for "intentionally" spreading fake news that wealthy Koreans are leaving the country due to the high inheritance tax.
On Tuesday, the KCCI issued a press release that claimed, citing statistics by a private immigration consulting firm based in Britain, the number of affluent individuals who left Korea in 2025 doubled from a year earlier to about 2,400, marking the fourth-largest figure in the world.
The KCCI pointed to Korea's inheritance tax rate as a major reason for the capital outflow, calling for the revision of the system.
"The ministry has immediately launched an audit into how the press release was written, verified and distributed," Kim said, accusing the KCCI of arbitrarily linking the immigration of wealthy people to inheritance tax, though the statistics do not show direct linkage between the two.
Kim highlighted that the KCCI's claim that the number of rich people who immigrated to another country doubled to 2,400 last year was also not true, citing the National Tax Service's study that showed only an average of 139 wealthy individuals move overseas every year.
The minister vowed a stern response to the incident, saying the matter has caused confusion in the market and hurt people's trust in the government's policies. (Yonhap)
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