Anchor: The share of the top ten percent of income earners in South Korea is estimated to have grown to 45 percent of total earnings in the nation The rate has grown around 16 percentage points since 1995, and is now the highest among Asian countries surveyed.
Our Mina Cha has more on the latest IMF report, indicating a widening income inequality in South Korea.

Report: A report has shown that that the top ten percent of income earners in South Korea accounted for 45 percent of the nation’s entire income distribution as of 2013, the highest among Asian countries surveyed.

The result was revealed as part of an International Monetary Fund(IMF) report released Wednesday analyzing income inequalities in Asia.

Based on data provided by 22 countries, Singapore followed in second with its top ten percent bracket behind 42 percent of the country’s total. Japan’s highest ten percent made up 41 percent while the comparative figures for New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia were 32, 31 and 22 percent, respectively.

In 1995, South Korea’s top ten percent earned 29 percent of the total income distribution. The 2013 figure was 16 percentage points higher. During the same period, other Asian countries saw similar tallies grow only by one to two percentage points.

The IMF report said South Korea’s most recent tally hints at rising inequality attributed to rapid aging, large wage gaps for regular and non-regular workers and gender occupational inequality.

The report noted that Asian economies such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore saw fast growth up until 1990, but following that year the region was unable to replicate the growth with an “equity miracle” as inequality rose.

It said while poverty was impressively reduced, such rates would have been even lower had inequality not risen.

The IMF further said elevated levels of inequality are harmful for the pace and sustainability of economic growth as it can lead to “suboptimal investment in health and education.” It argued that fundamental policies could offer relief in reversing the trend of rising inequality.
Mina Cha, KBS World Radio News.