NCSoft's CEO is the best paid in Korea in the first half

Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft, was the top earner in the country in terms of salary and bonus in the first half of the year, taking home a total of 9.4 billion won.

He was also No. 1 in 2020, at 18.4 billion won.

The ranking is based on half-year financial reports submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service by listed companies in Korea by Aug. 17.

Kim pocketed 1.1 billion won is salary and the rest incentives in the first half. That is 40 percent less than what he earned in the first half of last year.

Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group, came in second with 7.9 billion won, 27.2 percent more compared to a year ago.

“It is not that much of an increase considering that Chairman Shin didn’t receive salary for three months last year due to the Covid-19,” spokesman from Lotte explained.

LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo came in third with 6.5 billion won of salary and bonuses in the first half.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won received 2.5 billion won of salary from SK Holdings and 1.2 billion won of bonus from SK hynix.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung took home 3.2 billion won in the first half, 2 billion won of which was paid by Hyundai Motor and 1.2 billion won by Hyundai Mobis.

Huh Tae-soo, chairman of GS Group took home 1.6 billion won from GS Holdings.

Kim Seung-youn, chairman of Hanwha Group, received 900 million won from Hanwha Corporation and another 900 million won from Hanwha Solutions.

When considering severance payment, Chung Mong-koo, honorary chairman of Hyundai Motor Group took home 30.2 billion won, 29.7 billion won of which was his severance pay from Hyundai Mobis.

A Hyundai Mobis spokesman said the severance payment is calculated based on his average annual salary and the payment rate depending on his title during the 43 years he worked at the company.

Shin Choon-ho, the late founder and chairman of Nongshim, took home 67.4 billion won, 17.1 billion won of which was his severance pay.

Kakao Chief Investment Officer Bae Jae-hyun was the best paid corporate leader not related to a chaebol founding family.

Bae received 8.1 billion won from Kakao in the first half.

Kim Ki-nam, vice chairman at Samsung Electronics, in charge of the semiconductor business, received 3.4 billion won, 2.5 billion of which was bonus.

“Kim’s contribution in enhancing competitiveness of the company's memory and non-memory chips businesses was considered,” Samsung Electronics spokesman said.

Koh Dong-jin, CEO at Samsung Electronics heading the smartphone business, received 580 million won in salary and 2.1 billion won in bonus.

Kwon Oh-hyun, former CEO of Samsung Electronics who is serving as the company's senior advisor, took home 3.1 billion won from the company.

BY MOON BYUNG-JOO, KIM YOUNG-JOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]