Ryu Young-sang, president of SK Telecom, received the highest annual salary among the CEOs of the three telecommunications companies (SK Telecom, KT, LG Uplus) last year.
According to the business reports of the three telecommunications companies disclosed on the 23rd through the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system (DART), Ryu Young-sang received approximately 3.083 billion won in compensation last year. Specifically, this includes a salary of 1.4 billion won, a bonus of 1.64 billion won, stock option exercise profits of 17 million won, and other earned income of 26 million won. Additionally, he received 26,555 units of PSU (Performance Stock Unit), a stock-based compensation system that is awarded based on performance when the corporate performance goals are met.
Last year, Ryu's compensation increased by about 1.5 times compared to the previous year's compensation (2.065 billion won). The salary also increased by 200 million won, and the bonus nearly doubled from 836 million won to 1.64 billion won. Ryu maintained the title of 'salary king' among the three telecommunications companies for the second consecutive year, following 2023.
Kim Young-seop, president of KT, received a total of 900 million won last year. This includes a salary of 556 million won, earned income of 332 million won, and other earned income of 13 million won. Hong Beom-sik, who was appointed as CEO of LG Uplus in November last year, did not have his compensation disclosed as it was below 500 million won.
The compensation of former CEO Hwang Hyun-sik was 1.992 billion won last year. He received a salary of 1.404 billion won, a bonus of 585 million won, and other earned income of 3 million won.
Among the three telecommunications companies, SK Telecom had the highest average salary per employee. SK Telecom also ranked first for the second consecutive year in terms of average employee salary. The average salary per employee at SK Telecom was approximately 161 million won, a 5.9% increase from the previous year. KT saw a 2.8% increase to 110 million won, while LG Uplus had a 7.9% increase to 109 million won compared to the previous year.
SK Telecom also led in average salary for non-registered executives. The average salary for non-registered executives at SK Telecom (113 people) was 579 million won, while at KT (99 people) it was 384 million won, and at LG Uplus (64 people) it was 462 million won.