Among the domestic "top 3" agricultural machinery corporations that posted around 1 trillion won in sales last year, the highest-paid executive was Chair and CEO Kim Jun-sik of Daedong.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosures on the 25th, based on combined compensation for concurrent positions at listed companies, Chair Kim Jun-sik received a total of 3.64752 billion won last year. Kim received 1.904 billion won from Daedong, 963.27 million won from Daedong Gear, and 780.25 million won from Daedong Metals. Kim is the grandson of the late founder Chair Kim Sam-man and is a third-generation owner-manager.
Daedong is the No. 1 agricultural machinery corporations in Korea, posting 1.4847 trillion won in sales last year. Professional manager Vice Chair and CEO Won Yu-hyeon received an annual salary of 1.561 billion won, ranking second in the industry.
The No. 3 salary went to Chair and CEO Kim Hee-yong of TYM Co. Kim received 1.381 billion won in compensation. Kim is the second son of the late honorary chair Kim In-deuk, founder of BYUCKSAN Group, and TYM Co. was spun off from BYUCKSAN Group in 2004. TYM Co. posted 929.3 billion won in sales last year. Professional manager President and CEO Kim Do-hoon of TYM Co. received 993 million won (No. 5).
Shin Jae-ho, president and CEO of LS Mtron, an unlisted agricultural machinery manufacturer under LS Group, received an annual salary of 1.002 billion won last year. That ranked No. 4 in the industry, 9 million won more than President Kim Do-hoon of TYM Co. LS Mtron recorded 1.1177 trillion won in sales last year.
The average employee pay at the "top 3 corporations" in agricultural machinery showed a large gap with executive compensation. Daedong had the highest average pay per employee last year at 83.79 million won, followed by TYM Co. at 76 million won and LS Mtron at 74 million won.
Compared with owner salaries, Chair Kim Jun-sik received about 22 times the Daedong employee average, and Chair Kim Hee-yong received about 18 times that of TYM Co. employees.
In the agricultural machinery industry, an owner-centered compensation structure and performance-linked systems are analyzed as factors widening this gap.
An industry official said, "It is a structure where rewards are concentrated on executives with significant contributions to expanding global markets and performance," adding, "However, as the competition to secure talent intensifies, calls to improve employee compensation systems are also growing."