April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The top brass at Korea's 30 largest conglomerates in terms of market cap receive salaries that are on average 21.9-times higher than those of rank-and-file employees, a local market researcher said on April 30.

According to FN Guide, the biggest income gap existed at Samsung Electronics whose Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun received a salary of 6.69 billion won (US$5.86 million), the largest for a CEO at a Korean firm; the average pay at the world's largest smartphone and memory chipmaker stood at 107 million won.

Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-hyun

Kim Tae-han, president of Samsung Biologics, reported a salary of 2.31 billion won, while the average for those working at the biopharmaceutical firm stood at an annual 41 million won. Both Samsung Electronics and Samsung Biologics belong to Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-run conglomerate.

FN Guide said a gap exceeding 50-fold existed at LG Household & Health Care, a leading cosmetics and household goods maker, with 20 to 30 times difference being reported by such companies as LG Display and SK Innovation.

The latest findings said that while the gap is not pronounced in other companies, many CEOs like those heading KB Financial Group, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and Lotte Chemical took home considerable sums of money that exceeded 10-times the average salary level of employees at the companies they managed. 

By Kim Young-won and news wires (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)