Gen.G Ruler Under LCK Review After South Korea Tax Tribunal Upholds Evasion Ruling

Gen.G LCK bot-laner Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk has found himself at the center of a tax controversy after South Korea's National Tax Service (NTS) concluded that he had engaged in tax avoidance — a ruling that the Tax Tribunal has since upheld following an appeal from Ruler's side.

What the NTS Found

According to a petition for adjudication made public through the National Tax Law Information System, the controversy centers on two issues: labor costs Ruler paid to his father between 2018 and 2021 and a stock title trust arrangement between the two.

The NTS ruled that the money Ruler paid his father as managerial fees did not qualify as a legitimate business expense. The authority pointed out that pro gamers already have their teams handling all professional activities and associated costs, meaning there was no clear need for an additional personal manager. Ruler's camp also failed to provide any documents confirming that his father had performed actual managerial work. As a result, the NTS treated those payments as non-business expenses and hit Ruler with a comprehensive income tax bill.

The title trust issue centered on stocks that Ruler had registered under his father's name. The profits and dividends those investments earned were reported as the father's income rather than Ruler's. Since the father had lower overall earnings, this arrangement cut down on the taxes both owed, making it a tax-saving move in the NTS's eyes. The authority concluded the resulting savings were too significant to overlook and imposed a gift tax penalty on Ruler.

Ruler's Side Challenges the Decision

Ruler's camp pushed back, arguing that his father had genuinely functioned as a manager, including handling contract negotiations before South Korea's certified agency system was introduced, and that the title trust was purely for asset management purposes, not tax avoidance. The side filed a petition with the Tax Tribunal contesting the NTS's disposition as excessive.

The tribunal, however, sided with the NTS and dismissed the appeal, upholding both the denial of labor cost deductions and the imposition of gift tax stemming from the title trust.

Following the ruling, Ruler's agency, SUPERGENT, addressed the matter publicly. The agency maintained that all of Ruler's income tax had been faithfully paid at the time of earning, and framed the situation as stemming from "administrative incompetence" during asset management rather than deliberate evasion.

SUPERGENT noted that Ruler's father had quit his own job to support the player's career and that the title trust arrangement was made out of practical necessity during the season. The agency confirmed that the penalty gift tax had already been paid in full and that all assets have since been returned to Ruler's name.

LCK Monitoring the Situation

The LCK has confirmed it is currently reviewing the matter internally and working to verify the facts. With Ruler being one of the league's most decorated players and a gold medalist at the Asian Games who earned a military service exemption, the outcome of the league's review is expected to draw significant attention across the Korean esports community.

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Featured image credit: Cesar Galeao/Riot Games

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