Is who No. 1 Annual Salary Earner in S. Korean ICT Industry?

Kwon Oh-hyun, former vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and currently chairman of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, ranked as South Korea's highest annual salary earner again last year.

According to a business report by Samsung Electronics on April 2, Kwon took home 24.38 billion won (US$23.1 million) in annual salary in 2017, including 1.84 billion won (US$1.74 million) of wages, 7.72 billion won (US$7.31 million) of bonus and 14.82 billion won (US$14.04 million) of other earned income. Kwon has topped the list of high-income corporate executives for three years in a row. Kwon earned 6.7 billion won (US$6.34 million) in 2016 and 14.95 billion won (US$14.16 million) in 2015. He personally received the highest amount of salary as well.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong, the heir of the electronics giant, only took 847 million won (US$802,083) in salary last year for his two-month service in January and February before he was later taken into custody in a corruption scandal on February 17. Lee’s 2017 income included 318 million won (US$301,136) of wages and 529 million won (US$500,947) of bonus.

Yoon Boo-keun, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, took home 7.7 billion won (US$7.26 million) last year, while Shin Jong-kyun, also vice chairman for Samsung Electronics, earned 8.43 billion won (US$7.98 million). Accordingly, Yoon and Shin became the second and the third-highest annual salary earner among corporate executives who are not a member of corporate owner families.

Lee Yun-tae, president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., recorded 1.24 billion won (US$1.17 million) of salary, while Jun Young-hyun, president of Samsung SDI Co., earned 1.34 billion won (US$1.27 million).

Jo Seong-jin, vice chairman and CEO of LG Electronics Inc., took home 2.53 billion won (US$2.39 million) last year, including 1.59 billion won (US$1.51 million) of wages and 933 million won (US$883,523) of bonus. Jo’s annual salary surged more than 1.1 billion won (US$1.04 million) in just one year, driven by the company’s biggest-ever revenue. Jo earned 1.42 billion won (US$1.34 million) a year earlier.

Han Sang-beom, vice chairman of LG Display Co., was paid 2.31 billion won (US$2.19 million) last year, while Park Jin-soo, vice chairman of LG Chem Ltd., received 2.13 billion won (US$2.02 million).

SK Hynix Inc. announced on April 2 that the total amount of annual salary of its CEO Park Sung-wook in 2017 came to 1.89 billion won (US$1.79 million), including wages, bonus and other earned income.

KT Corp. Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu became the highest annual salary earner among three domestic mobile carrier CEOs last year. LG U+ Corp. vice chairman and CEO Kwon Young-soo received a similar amount of salary with Hwang, followed by SK Telecom Co. President Park Jung-ho.

Hwang earned a total of 2.36 billion won (US$2.23 million) last year, including 573 million won (US$542,614) of wages, 1.78 billion won (US$1.68 million) of bonus and 9 million won (US$8,523) of other earned income. Kwon received 2.31 billion won (US$2.18 million) of salary in 2017, up a whopping 1.17 billion won (US$1.1 million) from a year ago. Park earned 772 million won (US$729,679) of wages and 9 million won (US$8,523) of other earned income without management-related bonus after he was appointed as president in March last year. Park, however, received a stock option for 66,504 shares on the day of his inauguration.