SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won on Wednesday announced that he would donate his entire salary from 2012 and 2013 worth 30.1 billion won ($29.3 million won).
Chey is the first corporate executive receiving 500 million won or more to give up his pay after their salaries were made public for the first time by the Financial Supervisory Service in March.
According to SK, Chey has not yet decided on the details of the donation.
“It could be made through a foundation of some sort,” said Kim Young-beom, an SK Group spokesman.
The decision came as executives, including owner families, have been lambasted for the hefty paychecks they have collected.
For Chey, who is serving a four-year prison sentence for embezzlement, the public sentiment had been worse ― more so because he topped the list with a combined 30.1 billion won in salary and bonuses from four affiliates last year.
Civic activists claimed that despite having done little work in prison, Chey had been paid the equivalent of the 2,300 won minimum wage.
Following the report, Chey declared that he would also give up his salary from the SK and SK hynix chairmanships from this year.
Many apppeared to believe the gesture was aimed at soothing the public sentiment.
Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn, who received a total of 33.1 billion won in 2013, has evidently avoided public scrutiny because he returned his 20 billion won salary to the company and only took a 13.1 billion won bonus before the FSS revelation.
Kim stepped down from key managerial positions in February after being convicted of using company money to pay back debts of other firms he was running under borrowed names.
The Hanwha leader joined the growing list of chaebol executives giving up their salaries.
GS chairman Huh Chang-soo, who received 1.7 billion won from GS E&C, decided to go pro bono this year after the company reported a nearly 1 trillion won-loss last year. Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho also announced his free-of-charge management until the business group sees a surplus. Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee has been paid nothing for his chairmanship since 2010.
Still, business moguls are not left unfed.
Lee Kun-hee reportedly received more than 100 billion won in dividends last year while Hanwha’s Kim Seung-youn bagged 6.7 billion won.
“The giving up of chaebol salary is more of a rebound from bad public sentiment stirred by the FSS report,” said Kang Jeong-min, a researcher at the Economic Reform Research Institute. “As long as they take the bonuses and incentives, they are not losing much.”
By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)