SK Telecom Pays Fattest Salaries

SK Telecom was Korea's highest-paying company at W67 million in the first half of this year, the Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday (US$1=W1,109).

That is a good W5 million more than last year, but the wage gap between men and women is still huge. The mobile carrier paid on average W70 million to male workers but only W49 million to women.

Competitors KT and LG Uplus paid W38 million and W40 million, up W2 million and W6 million from a year earlier.

An industry insider said mobile carriers generally pay bonuses in the first quarter, which drives up the overall salary figure for the first half.

Oil refinery S-Oil paid W66.08 million during the six-month period, followed by Naver (W46 million), Samsung Electronics (W42 million) and POSCO (W42 million). In the banking sector, Shinhan Card ranked top at W51 million.