[Newsmaker] Ex-Samsung CEO Kwon becomes legendary salaryman in Korea

Kwon Oh-hyun, a former chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics who retired late last year, was the highest-paid man in South Korea last year, earning far more than the owners of chaebol including the tech giant’s de facto leader Lee Jae-yong.

According to an annual business report released by Samsung Electronics, Kwon received a total of 24.38 billion won ($23 million) in annual salary last year, three times higher than what he had earned a year before.

Kwon had served as the vice chairman and CEO of Samsung’s semiconductor division for the past five years, which brought the largest-ever operating profit of more than 35 trillion won last year. Samsung’s total operating profit stood at 53.65 trillion won in 2017. 

Kwon received 1.84 billion won for his base wage, 7.72 billion won in incentives and 14.82 billion won in a one-time special incentive.

After stepping down in November, he took an honorary post at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, working as a chairman there.

Kwon’s success story, both in terms of the reputation he built and the money he earned, has grabbed public attention in South Korea -- a highly competitive society where becoming a billionaire for an ordinary college graduate remains a mere dream.

Kwon first joined Samsung in 1985 as a researcher in the company’s semiconductor R&D center in the US, and built up his career at both the memory and system LSI businesses at the headquarters in Korea. He was promoted to the executive level in 1994, 10 years after he entered Samsung, and became CEO of the device solutions division in 2011.

Following Kwon, two other Samsung “salary” men ranked second and third: Human Resources Vice Chairman Shin Jong-kyun, who earned about 8.43 billion won for leading the company’s information and mobile communications division last year, and Corporate Relations Vice Chairman Yoon Boo-keun, who headed the consumer electronics division and took a total annual salary of 7.67 billion won.

Making a stark contrast, the paychecks of chaebol owners were lower than those hired CEOs.

Samsung’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong received 871 million won in annual salary last year due to his 10-month-long detention in jail on alleged charges of bribing former President Park Geun-hye.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, who is currently in jail with a 2.5-year sentence, decided not to take his monthly wage from March, according to the group. Shin was sentenced to jail on Feb. 13. 

“It would be inappropriate to be paid in such a situation,” Shin was quoted as saying in a meeting with his legal representatives earlier this month.

He reportedly returned about 1 billion won he received from seven Lotte affiliates last month, according to the group.

The Lotte chairman took 15.23 billion won in annual salary last year, receiving the largest amount of salary among Korean conglomerate owners.

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo saw a 13.7 percent decrease in his annual salary to receive 8 billion won. Hyundai’s heir apparent Chung Eui-sun took 1.81 billion won.

Hyundai Motor’s top executives have agreed to cut their salaries since 2016 due to the company’s worsening performances at home and abroad.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)