The nation’s leading law firm Kim & Chang was found to have the largest number of high income earners, according to a ruling party lawmaker who analyzed a report from the National Health Insurance Service.
The law firm was followed by Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, and SK Innovation, the holding firm of SK Group affiliates related to energy.
According to Rep. Kim Hyun-sook of the Saenuri Party, Kim & Chang has a total of 148 employees who earn 78 million won ($72,700) or more per month, the highest income bracket designated by health insurance authorities.
People in this bracket pay a maximum 2.3 million won for their monthly health insurance, Rep. Kim added, noting that the size of the health insurance fee was indicative of one’s economic wealth. Currently the country has about 2,500 high incomers in this group.
Samsung Electronics came in second with 62 of its executives among the highest bracket of health insurance payers.
Energy company SK Innovation, law firm Lee & Ko and Hyundai Motor ranked next, with 28, 20 and 14 high income earners, respectively.
Accounting service firm Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, local brokerages Daishin Securities and KTB Investment and Securities, and mobile operator SK Telecom were also included on the list.
The report also showed that the number of high salary individuals has been rising consistently. The number of salary earners who make at least 10 million a month almost doubled over the past five years, from 140,000 in 2009 to 253,000 in May 2013.
In terms of individuals, the highest-paid employee of all health insurance payers nationwide was an executive of Jaseng Hospital of Oriental Medicine, who makes a monthly income of about 1.7 billion won.
An executive of a development firm and Samsung Electronics executive ranked No. 2 and No. 3 with monthly salaries worth 1.44 billion won and 1.43 billion won, respectively.
By Chung Joo-won (
joowonc@heraldcorp.com)
