<Anchor> As



the performance of many companies declined last year due to the corona 19 impact, the number of employees was reduced or the salary was also reduced. However, it turns out that the owners and executives had their annual salary increased by more than 1 billion won. There is growing controversy over the increase in salary, where standards unrelated to company performance are ambiguous.



Reporter Han Sang-woo's report.



<Reporter>



In the aftermath of Corona 19, Korean Air, which introduced circular leave from April to December last year, reduced the average annual salary of employees from 883 million won by 12 million won.



On the other hand, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae's annual salary was 3,098 million won, an increase of 1.25 billion won, 40%.



Hotel Shilla, whose sales were almost cut in half, suffered a net loss of 283.3 billion won, but President Lee Boo-jin's annual salary rose 53% to 4,892 million won.



Hanjin said that the salary was reflected from 2017 to 2019, when Chairman Cho Won-tae rose from president to chairman, and Hotel Shilla showed good results, but controversy is arising.



[Park Joo-geun/Leaders Index Representative: This is a kind of moral hazard (moral hazard). If (corporate) wants to develop in the long term, it is rather moral to make concessions even if the resolution of the board of directors does.]



Also, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, whose performance was sluggish last year, was named as the CEO and executives of as many as eight affiliates. And received an annual salary of 15 billion won.



Even though performance deteriorated last year, 89 owners and executives of listed companies with increased pay amounted to 130 or so.



The wage gap between registered directors and ordinary employees widened by an average of 10.7 times.



It is pointed out that the explanations disclosed by companies about the criteria for setting such high salaries are too simple and ambiguous.



The board of directors, which determines the annual salary of executives, clearly discloses the criteria for discussion, and there is a strong voice that it is necessary to monitor institutional investors and minority shareholders such as the National Pension Plan.



(Video coverage: Kim Seong-il, video editing: Yumira)