[Newsmaker] Will SK chairman retake board membership?

  With the season for annual shareholders meetings of the nation’s conglomerates approaching, the limelight is on SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won once again.

Two months ago, the business tycoon suffered a public backlash with his confession about an extramarital affair and a love child. This time, attention is being paid not to his personal life but to his return to the executive board of key affiliates of the nation’s third-largest conglomerate.

One reason why the chairman’s move is drawing public interest is because of the related paycheck.

Chey was the nation’s highest-paid CEO in fiscal year 2013, earning a total of 30.1 billion won ($24.4 million) from four affiliates. However, the annual salary of Chey has been kept under wraps for the past two years, ever since he resigned from the executive board of all SK units in March 2014, after receiving a four-year prison term for embezzling company funds.

Under the Korean Capital Market Act, enacted in 2013, only executive directors of a corporate board, who make more than 500 million won a year, are required to reveal their annual salaries in their firms’ regulatory filings. Dividend payments are not included in the paycheck.

There have been no filings on the SK chairman’s pay for the past two year, but it is said that he did not collect any salary. He also donated what he earned in 2013 from the positions he held to charity organizations. In 2014, during his prison term he declared he would serve the group without payment.

Industry watchers said the chairman was paid last year as he made a comeback to work in August after receiving a special pardon from President Park Geun-hye.

However, his salary for fiscal year 2015 is a secret as he held no executive position.

Despite the pressure to reveal his salary, Chey is reportedly considering rejoining the board so that he can once again get involved in the decision-making process of management issues.

Company officials, however, declined to confirm such a move, saying it is too early to mention the agenda for the annual shareholders meeting.

“A corporate bill on his return to the board will be filed to the financial authorities two or three weeks before the shareholders meeting in mid-March,” a company official said. If Chey rejoins the board, his paycheck for 2016 will be revealed next March. 

Unlike the SK chairman, some owner families of other conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, will maintain their nonexecutive director status, meaning that their annual remuneration will not be revealed to the public.

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo, and his son and vice chairman Chung Eui-sun, will disclose their 2015 salaries in March as they are executive directors on the board of key affiliates. 

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)