Lotte's Shin Dong-bin highest-paid chief executive in Korea during 1H23

From left: Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin; Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung; SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won; Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong [EACH COMPANY, YONHAP]

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin was the highest-paid chief executive in Korea during the first half of 2023.

Samsung Electronics chief Lee Jae-Yong, meanwhile, remains off the list, as the executive chairman has not received compensation from the company since 2017.

According to regulatory disclosures from Korea’s top conglomerates, Shin received a total of 11.25 billion won ($8.4 million) from seven Lotte companies including Lotte Corporation, the holdings company, Lotte Chemical, Lotte Shopping and Lotte Chilsung Beverage from January to June.

The figure is about 1 billion won bigger compared to the same period last year.

Doosan Group Chairman and CEO Park Jeong-won ranked second, earning 6.78 billion won. Doosan companies include Doosan Enerbility, Korea’s only nuclear reactor core component supplier, and Doosan Bobcat.

LG Corporation Chairman Koo Kwang-mo received paychecks worth 6 billion won, down 16 percent from the same period last year.

Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae earned 2.61 billion won from Korean Air Lines and 2.96 billion won from Hanjin KAL, about three times the amount of paychecks the chief received in the first half of last year, due to the aviation rebound following the pandemic.

Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seoung-youn received a total of 5.41 billion won from Hanwha Corporation, Hanwha Solutions and Hanwha Aerospace. Alongside his paycheck, Kim will be given restricted stock units, 166,004 shares from Hanwha Corporation, 48,101 shares from Hanwha Solutions, and 65,002 shares from Hanwha Aerospace, the actual amount of which will be determined at the January 2033 date of payment.

CJ Group Chair Lee Jae-hyun collected paychecks worth 4.97 billion won in total from CJ, CJ CheilJedang, and CJ ENM.

GS chief Huh Tae-woo received 4.05 billion won, of which 2.7 billion won came in as a bonus, down by 1.3 billion won compared to last year.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung received 3.25 billion won from Hyundai Motor and 1.25 billion won from Hyundai Mobis.

SK chief Chey Tae-won earned 1.75 billion won from SK Inc., and 1.25 billion won from SK hynix, a memory chipmaker.

Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong was not paid, as Lee stopped receiving payments in March 2017 after he was prosecuted for his involvement in a high-profile bribery case surrounding former President Park Geun-hye.

In the game industry, CEO Kim Chang-han of Krafton — the largest game company on the Kospi exchange by market cap — received 3.28 billion won.

Among Korea’s three mobile carriers, former KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo, who stepped down from his post in March, received 3 billion, SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang 1.46 billion won, and LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyeon-sik 1.06 billion won.

In the financial sector, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo topped the list, earning 1.8 billion won, followed by former Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung, who resigned in March, and incumbent KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, who announced in August that he will not seek a fourth term.

BY KO SUK-HYUN, KIM KYUNG-MI, AND AHN HYO-SEONG [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]