Among business leaders, CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun ranked first in last year’s annual salary. Except for Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who has been running ‘unpaid management’ for six years, the annual salary of most of the heads increased compared to the previous year.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 21st, Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, who ranked first in the annual salary of the head of the business world last year, received a total of 22.136 billion won in compensation from CJ’s major affiliates. 10.644 billion won from the holding company CJ, 7.294 billion won from CJ Cheiljedang, and 4.198 billion won from CJ ENM. Chairman Lee Jae-hyun also received 21.861 billion won in remuneration in 2021, ranking first in annual salary among total heads.
Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, followed with an annual salary of 10.626 billion won last year. Chairman Chung Eui-sun received 7.01 billion won from Hyundai Motor and 3.625 billion won from Hyundai Mobis last year. Chairman Chung is also serving as a registered executive at Kia, but he is not receiving any remuneration at Kia.
LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo received a total of 9.478 billion won in remuneration last year. At the holding company LG Corp., the salary was 4.627 billion won and bonuses were 4.851 billion won.
Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon and the eldest son Kim Dong-kwan, vice chairman Kim Dong-gwan, received 9 billion won and 7.5 billion won respectively as annual salaries last year. Chairman Kim Seung-yeon’s salary increased by 600 million won from 2021, and Vice Chairman Kim Dong-gwan’s annual salary doubled compared to the previous year (3.79 billion won). Vice-Chairman Kim found that Hanwha Solutions’ compensation rose significantly as it achieved record-high performance last year.
Huh Chang-soo, honorary chairman of GS Group, also received 7.679 billion won in compensation last year. He received 1.556 billion won from GS, 2.41 billion won in salary and 3.713 billion won in bonuses from GS Construction.
GS CEO Huh Tae-soo, younger brother of Honorary Chairman Huh Chang-soo, received a total of 6.716 billion won from GS last year, including a salary of 2.643 billion won and a bonus of 4.073 billion won.
Cho Won-tae, chairman of Hanjin Group, received 5.18 billion won in remuneration last year, up 51% from 2021. Chairman Cho Won-tae received 2.38786 billion won from Korean Air and 2.7963 billion won from Hanjin KAL, respectively.
Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, received 3.5 billion won from holding company SK last year. Chairman Choi also receives compensation from SK Hynix, but the exact amount has not been disclosed as he is not in the top 5 in terms of individual payments.
In addition, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who ranked at the top of the annual salary list in 2021, was found to have received an annual salary of 5.46 billion won from three affiliates last year, including Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Chilsung, and Lotte Shopping, only in business reports published until this day. However, out of the seven subsidiaries that Chairman Shin received last year’s compensation, four subsidiaries — Lotte Chemical, Hotel Lotte, Lotte Mulsan, and Lotte Holdings — have yet to disclose their business reports, so the actual salary received is expected to be much higher than this. Chairman Shin’s annual salary in 2021 reached a total of 18.2597 billion won.