By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
South Korea’s national wealth has increased nearly two-fold over the past 10 years on rising real estate prices and minerals buried underground.
According to the National Statistical Office (NSO) Wednesday, the entire value of the country’s fixed assets, land and durable consumer goods reached 6,035 trillion won ($6,489 trillion) as of the end of 2006, up 1.9 times from 3,123 trillion won 10 years ago. During the 1997-2006 period, the nation’s wealth rose by an average of 7.6 percent annually. It is also up 477 trillion won, or 8.6 percent, from a year earlier.
The statistical office has compiled national wealth data once every 10 years since 1968 by analyzing existing economic data that includes tangible and intangible fixed assets, inventory holdings, land, forestry, natural resource assets and durable consumer goods owned by the government, companies and individuals.
The value of tangible fixed assets, including residential and commercial buildings, machinery, transpiration equipments, roads and other social infrastructure, totaled 2,439 trillion won last year, accounting for 40.4 percent of the entire national wealth.
Land assets jumped 2.1-fold to 3,053 trillion won last year from 1997, accounting for 50.6 percent of the total, while inventory holdings making up 5.1 percent of national wealth at 306 trillion won. The country’s natural resources were valued at 40 trillion won, up from 36 trillion won in 2005, accounting for 0.7 percent of the total.
“Land prices have shot up over the years as the government has raised its assessed standard prices to better reflect market values. As international prices of coal and other minerals have surged on increasing demand from China and other developing economies over the past few years, the value of the country’s mineral holdings have also increased sharply, pushing up national wealth,” an NSO official said.
Individuals held 46 percent of national wealth at 2,778 trillion won, followed by businesses with 2,109 trillion won and the government with 1,148 trillion won.
The services sector possessed 65.2 percent of the country’s production assets, followed by mining and manufacturing industries with 23.2 percent and the construction sector with 3.9 percent.
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