KCCI pledges verification overhaul in wake of controversy over report about wealthy Koreans leaving

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) apologized and pledged a sweeping overhaul of its verification system after President Lee Jae Myung denounced its report on wealthy Koreans leaving the country as “fake news.”

Park Il-joon, vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), bows his head in apology on Feb. 9 at an emergency meeting of economic organizations at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Jongno District, central Seoul, over a KCCI press release claiming that wealthy Koreans are leaving the country due to inheritance taxes. [NEWS1]

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) apologized and pledged a sweeping overhaul of its verification system after President Lee Jae Myung denounced its report on wealthy Koreans leaving the country as “fake news.”

The KCCI said Monday that it has in particular begun building a fact-checking system centered on its key research arm, the Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI).

President Lee recently rebuked a KCCI press release that cited overseas research claiming that a growing number of Korean high-net-worth individuals are leaving the country due to high inheritance tax rates. The controversy escalated after ministers from relevant government departments joined the criticism in the wake of the president’s remarks.

In a statement released on Monday morning, the KCCI said it “once again deeply apologizes for causing unnecessary confusion among the public and the market by citing statistics from external institutions without sufficient verification.”

The chamber said it would use the incident as an opportunity to overhaul its verification procedures across the entire process of preparing and distributing materials. To improve the reliability of its statistics, it also plans to provide verification and analytical training to all staff members, including those involved in research and surveys.

The fact-checking function of the SGI will also be strengthened. The KCCI said it has appointed SGI President Park Yang-soo — a former director-general of the Bank of Korea’s economic statistics department — as an executive in charge of fact-checking, and will establish a double-layered review process for externally released materials. Under the system, the methodology and interpretation of data will first be reexamined internally, followed by an additional review by independent external experts.

KCCI head Chey Tae-won, who was on a business trip to the United States at the time, was briefed on the situation and strongly reprimanded the secretariat, saying that “as a responsible institution, we should have examined the data far more carefully,” according to sources.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, the KCCI’s supervisory ministry, also took a hard line. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan convened an “emergency review meeting on pending issues” with the KCCI and six affiliated economic organizations on Monday.

Park Il-joon, vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), right, listens at an emergency meeting of economic organizations at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 9, over a KCCI press release claiming that wealthy Koreans are leaving the country due to inheritance taxes. [NEWS1]

“As the supervising minister, I apologize to the public,” Kim said, adding that the press release in question was “a case in which a statutory organization forgot its public duty and responsibility,” and said an immediate audit would be conducted covering the entire process of drafting, verification and distribution. Depending on the results, disciplinary action against those responsible and possible legal measures will be considered.

KCCI Vice Chairman Park Il-joon, who attended the meeting, also bowed in apology, saying, “We will do our utmost to restore the trust we have lost.”

The controversy began last Tuesday, when the KCCI released a statement citing data from British immigration consultancy Henley & Partners, claiming that Korea ranked fourth globally in the outflow of high-net-worth individuals and that inheritance tax was the main cause. Critics, however, pointed out that the data did not clearly establish a causal relationship between inheritance tax and overseas migration by the wealthy, raising questions about its credibility.

President Lee later wrote on social media that “deliberate fake news intended to cloud judgment is an enemy of democracy” and called for a firm response. The KCCI posted an apology on its website later that afternoon. The controversy further escalated after Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol and National Tax Service Commissioner Lim Kwang-hyun publicly joined the criticism.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY KIM SU-MIN [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]