The local corporate sector appeared to be shaken up by the latest data from the Korea Center for Investigative Journalism revealing an additional list of Koreans associated with conglomerates holding offshore accounts through paper companies in tax havens.

“It’s the fact that these news reports are coming against the backdrop of the government’s drive for spurring fair competition between the big and little players as a part of its policy pledges for achieving economic democratization,” said one executive at a local conglomerate who declined to be identified.

Lee Dong-keun, vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that it was too early to judge the meaning of the announcement.

“It’s still premature to condemn the companies with paper firms, regardless of which conglomerate they belong to, because it’s very common for corporations to operate with these vehicles, mostly for tax reasons,” Lee said. “Exactly what kind of malfeasance that the executives or companies committed at these tax havens, we’ll have to see.”

Tax evasion is one significant outlaw firms can commit through the so-called “ghost companies,” which is why the list revealed by the KCIJ is causing such repercussions here: The whole nation is bracing for exactly how President Park Geun-hye, who is still brandishing her economic democratization policy pledge, will react.

The timing also was quite significant, market watchers said, noting that the center chose to reveal the list to coincide with ongoing legal investigations into CJ Group on slush fund allegations.

“Although the list of those in tax havens was not a part of a government drive, the timing makes it appear that way,” Lee of the KCCI said.

The seven who were unveiled on Monday were either incumbent or former executives at companies such as Hanjin Shipping, Hanwha Station Development, SK Securities and Daewoo International.

The announcement came as the nation is reeling from a previous list of former and current corporate executives with offshore paper companies.

Companies, meanwhile, sought to distance themselves from the announcement, with owners of the names of the conglomerates revealed in the center’s list explaining that the paper companies were personal property, and were irrelevant to the firms they currently or formerly worked for.

Hanjin Shipping officials said that they knew of a paper company jointly set up between chairwoman Choi Eun-young and former Hanjin Shipping CEO Cho Yong-min years ago, but heard it had been later scrapped in 2011.

According to the center’s announcement, the company, called Wide Gate Group Ltd., is still under operation in the British Virgin Islands.

Daewoo International also said the paper company was reportedly set up by a former executive who claims that the company was set up on directions from Daewoo. The company denied the allegations.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)