Borrowed 20 Billion Won From Her Own Company, Paid No Interest... A Conglomerate Chairman's Youngest Daughter's "Innovative Money Moves" [The Heirs]

Global Sae-A Group Owner's Second-Generation Vice President Kim Sera
Debt at Her Private Company Taebeom Grows... Principal and Interest Pile Up
Affiliate Funds Used to Buy a Daechi-dong Building for Over 20 Billion Won
After Making Over 40

Kim Woongki, Chairman of Global Sae-A Group

Kim Sera, vice president of Sae-A Trading and the third daughter of Kim Woongki, chairman of Global Saea Group, borrowed hundreds of billions of won from a privately held company and has not paid the interest, causing the loan balance to grow, a review of records shows. The funds came from some of the massive capital gains her private company made after buying and selling a building in Gangnam. Group affiliates appear to have provided funds for the purchase.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on November 8, Vice President Kim borrowed a total of 2,041,800 won from Taebeom, a company in which she owns a 100% stake. This includes a loan of 20.268 billion won due on November 18.

The loans include 19.329 billion won that Vice President Kim borrowed in November 2024, 939.39 million won in annual interest, 897.87 million won in interest accrued when the loan was extended in November 2025, and another 150 million won borrowed in July 2025.

Daechi-dong Building Bought for More Than 20 Billion Won Sold for 65 Billion Won... Vice President Kim Sera Borrowed 20 Billion Won

Taebeom operates the Cafe Chenu coffee shop in Global Saea Group's headquarters. Last year, it recorded 1.3 billion won in sales and had 12 employees. Lee Jung-oh, head of management support at Sae-A Trading, is Taebeom's representative director, while Vice President Kim serves as an inside director.

Taebeom had only 450 million won in cash and cash equivalents at the end of last year. The loans to Vice President Kim were made after the company sold a building it owned in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, for 65 billion won in December 2023.

Taebeom had bought the building from Ildong Trading in 2018 for 21.8 billion won. It borrowed 15 billion won from Woori Bank, using the building as collateral, to finance the purchase. The rest appears to have been borrowed from Global Saea Group affiliates. According to Taebeom's 2018 audit report, the company borrowed 12.9 billion won, including 6.1 billion won from Sae-A Inns and 6.6 billion won from Sae-A Trading. The interest rate on each loan was 3.50%.

Taebeom later also borrowed operating funds from Sae-A Trading and Global Saea. After selling the building, it even lent 25.5 billion won to Global Saea at an interest rate of 6.28%. In other words, a private company owned by a second-generation owner, which acquired real estate with group support, provided large sums of money to the group and the owner personally after selling the property. Of the company's financial transactions in recent years, the loan to Vice President Kim also carried a relatively low interest rate of 4%.

Sae-A Trading Suspends Dividends After Group Designated as a Conglomerate... Growing Questions Over Succession Funds

Vice President Kim's borrowing coincided with the designation of Global Saea Group as a conglomerate by the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Global Saea Group grew through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), building on Sae-A Trading, a fashion original equipment manufacturer (OEM) founded by Chairman Kim Woongki in 1986. After acquiring fashion company Indief in the mid-2000s, the group went on to acquire Taerim Packaging and Taerim Paper in 2020 and Ssangyong Engineering & Construction in 2022. In April 2023, it was designated a "business group subject to disclosure" after its assets exceeded 5 trillion won. The designation subjected it to regulations, including a ban on providing undue benefits to specially related parties (the controlling family) and requirements for board approval of large-scale intra-group transactions.

Global Saea Group had earlier split Sae-A Trading in 2015, separating it into Global Saea, a holding company, and a newly established Sae-A Trading, which took charge of the apparel manufacturing business. In 2018, Sae-A Trading absorbed Sae-A Inns, which was wholly owned by Chairman Kim's three daughters, giving the sisters stakes in the group's core affiliate. The eldest daughter, Kim Seyeon, owns 12.94%, while the second daughter, President Kim Jina, and the third daughter, Vice President Kim Sera, each own 12.56%. Global Saea holds the remaining 61.94% of Sae-A Trading.

After the three sisters acquired stakes, Sae-A Trading increased its dividends. Its dividend payout surged from 2.4 billion won in 2019 to 147.5 billion won in 2020. It paid another 30 billion won in 2021 and 50 billion won in 2022, bringing the total over the three years to 227.5 billion won. In the first year after the group was designated a conglomerate, the dividend was halved to 21 billion won. It then fell to 5.9 billion won in 2024, and the company paid no dividend last year.

With Sae-A Trading's dividends plunging after Global Saea Group was designated a conglomerate, Vice President Kim effectively borrowed funds from Taebeom, her privately held company. This has prompted industry observers to suggest that the money may be intended to help finance the group's succession process. A Global Saea Group official said, however, "The purpose of the personal borrowing is unrelated to paying gift taxes or anything of that nature, and the company has not been informed of it, as it is a personal matter."

Sae-A Trading is also reported to have undergone an unscheduled tax audit by the National Tax Service earlier this year. The audit was reportedly conducted by Investigation Bureau 4 of the Seoul Regional Tax Office, which specializes in investigations into embezzlement and the creation of slush funds.

The M&A Heavyweight That Set Its Sights on JoongAng Ilbo... From Apparel Maker to Conglomerate With 6 Trillion Won in Revenue

Global Saea grew its business through aggressive M&A led by Chairman Kim Woongki. Last year, the group's consolidated revenue rose 16.6% year over year to 5.993 trillion won, while operating profit increased 35.7% to 186.7 billion won. The company, which began in apparel manufacturing, diversified into paper, packaging materials, construction and energy, growing into a conglomerate.

Earlier this year, Global Saea drew attention by entering the bidding for JoongAng Ilbo. The group took part in the preliminary bidding for the sale of the newspaper's controlling stake and made the shortlist of qualified bidders alongside OK Financial Group, SamproTV, Nambu CC, Orion and Daou Technology. However, it lost out in the final bidding held last month, when a consortium of Daou Kiwoom Group and CJ Group was named the preferred bidder.

The stake in Global Saea, the group's holding company, remains concentrated in the hands of Chairman Kim Woongki. Although the second-generation owners have secured stakes in the operating company, the succession of control at the holding-company level has yet to be completed.

The three daughters are also involved in management to varying degrees. President Kim Jina has taken a leading role in group management, including serving as CEO of Global Saea, while Vice President Kim Sera has handled key management duties at Sae-A Trading. The eldest daughter, Kim Seyeon, has focused more on holding shares than on direct involvement in management.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.