Rank stocks not by value but by ‘how many lawmakers hold them,’ and No. 1 is no surprise. Samsung Electronics, 59 lawmakers. The country’s ‘national stock’ tops the list among lawmakers too. The real story starts at No. 2. The domestic growth stocks that filled spots two through five just three years ago have been pushed out wholesale by U.S. Big Tech. In 2025 the No. 2, 3, and 4 holdings are Nvidia, Apple, and Tesla — all three American.
Why number of holders, not value?
Senior public officials, lawmakers included, file the assets of themselves and their families each year through the Public Service Ethics system, and the records are published in the official gazette. Alongside deposits and real estate, those filings list the stock, quantity, and value of each holding. We gathered this securities section by stock and ranked each by how many lawmakers reported holding it.
The same data tells a different story depending on the yardstick. Sort by reported value and one large position lifts a stock, surfacing the ‘single priciest holding’; sort by number of holders and what surfaces is the stock that many held in common — the group’s ‘consensus pick.’ A stock that many chose alike mirrors a group’s taste and direction more honestly than one person’s big bet. So we chose holders, not value. The pool is the entire securities section of the 2025 disclosures, ranked from the stock held by the most lawmakers down.
The ten stocks held by the most lawmakers
Samsung Electronics holds first at 59, immovable — nearly six of every ten lawmakers hold it, so its ‘national stock’ nickname carries straight into the legislature. What shifted is everything below. No. 2 Nvidia, 46; No. 3 Apple, 40; No. 4 Tesla, 37. Spots two through four are all U.S. Big Tech. Only at No. 5, Kakao (26), does a domestic stock reappear. Further down come SK hynix (22), Microsoft (20), NAVER (17), Alphabet A (16), and Broadcom (15) in a tight band — six of the top ten are American.
The turnover that happened at No. 2
This tilt was not always there. Trace the same tally back to 2020 and 2022, and lawmakers’ accounts wore a very different face. In 2020 the top five were Samsung Electronics (37), SK hynix (13), Hyundai Motor (12), Kakao (10), and POSCO (10) — not a single U.S. stock. In 2022, No. 2 was still Kakao (28), No. 3 NAVER (23), No. 4 Hyundai Motor (22). As recently as three years ago, the No. 2 spot belonged to domestic growth stocks like Kakao and NAVER.
The turnover was a cumulative drift, not a single-year event. Lawmakers holding Nvidia grew from 6 (No. 18) in 2020 to 12 (No. 11) in 2022 to 46 (No. 2) in 2025. Apple traced 9 (No. 12) → 16 (No. 7) → 40 (No. 3); Tesla, 10 (No. 6) → 16 (No. 8) → 37 (No. 4). As U.S. Big Tech climbed a rung at a time, domestic growth stocks gave up that much ground.
Kakao’s retreat — not a crash, but being overtaken
The most telling stock is Kakao. Once called a ‘national stock’ that drew in retail investors, Kakao ranked No. 2 by holders (28) in 2022. In 2025 it still has 26 holders — the count barely fell. Yet its rank slid from No. 2 to No. 5. Kakao did not collapse; it was overtaken as three U.S. Big Tech names wedged in above it. NAVER likewise fell from 23 (No. 3) in 2022 to 17 (No. 8) in 2025, down in both count and rank. The retreat of domestic growth stocks is less a collapse in absolute numbers than a relative one — ground lost to U.S. stocks that grew faster.
How many more lawmakers held the same stock in three years
To see the direction more clearly, place the number of lawmakers reporting each stock in 2022 beside 2025. Only the U.S. Big Tech side surged across the board.
Nvidia rose most steeply at +34 in three years, with Apple (+24) and Tesla (+21) behind. Broadcom, reported by just 1 lawmaker in 2022, swelled to 15 and entered the top ten anew. Over the same span, domestic growth stocks lost holders — Kakao (−2), NAVER (−6), Hyundai Motor (−7). U.S. names rising by double digits above, domestic names slipping below: a turnover that runs one way.
Why look at this ranking — lawmakers’ accounts as a mirror
In the end, what matters is the alignment of direction. Lawmakers were retail U.S.-stock investors too.Set aside the immovable No. 1, Samsung Electronics, and the shifts from No. 2 down map exactly onto the path ordinary investors have walked these past few years. Nvidia, riding the AI rally; Tesla and Apple, long the two flagship picks of Korea’s U.S.-stock retail crowd; and Microsoft, Alphabet, and Broadcom besides. The accounts of those who design policy and regulate markets ultimately rode the same wave as ordinary people in those markets.
That is why this ranking is not a mere popularity chart but a mirror. Before we even weigh conflicts of interest, it reflects what the group that makes policy believed in and bet money on. Whatever the rhetoric about nurturing domestic industry, their private assets were betting on the growth of U.S. Big Tech. This directionality, invisible in totals or average values, comes into sharp focus through a simple ranking by number of holders. That is why we ranked by holders, not value.
Method & source · We gathered the securities section of public-official asset disclosures (filed through the Public Service Ethics system and published in the gazette) by stock and ranked each by the number of lawmakers reporting it. The 2020, 2022, and 2025 filings were tallied identically to compare over time. Stock names follow the representative labels on the filings; preferred shares and share classes of the same company (e.g., Samsung Electronics pref., Alphabet C) are kept as separate stocks. Filings list only the stock, quantity, and value — not the timing or frequency of trades. Stocks bought and sold during the year and cleared out before year-end are not captured, so this tally shows ‘holding popularity’ but is not a ‘trade trace.’ The ranking points to stocks, not to any particular lawmaker. Data tally · kookrator.