Kim Dong-seok, Executive Director of Classys, Leading the Localization of Beauty Medical Devices, Writes the Salaryman Myth

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Kim Dong-seok, Executive Director of Classys, received the highest compensation among executives of KOSDAQ-listed companies last year. This was thanks to exercising stock options granted as a reward for his significant contribution to the growth of Classys through the localization of beauty medical devices.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 31st, Kim Dong-seok's total compensation last year amounted to 22.431 billion KRW. He received 346 million KRW in salary and 640 million KRW in bonuses. The remaining 21.445 billion KRW came from gains through exercising stock options.

Previously, on December 20, 2016, Classys granted stock options to Kim Dong-seok, along with Director Choi Chang-ho and Manager Kim Do-yeon. The conditions were revised on August 30, 2017, and the stock option exercise price was set at 1,819 KRW.

Starting from August last year, Kim exercised his stock options to acquire Classys common shares. He then transferred the shares to institutional investors and received cash. Classys' stock price rose from 4,085 KRW at the end of 2018 to as high as 18,650 KRW during trading on November 19 last year.

The sharp rise in Classys' stock price last year was largely due to the overseas expansion effect of the beauty medical device 'Shurink' utilizing High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technology. Classys exports various beauty medical devices centered on Shurink to over 60 countries worldwide. Due to the nature of the procedure, it has a wide range of applicable candidates and offers high satisfaction because it involves fewer toxicities, rejections, and side effects compared to artificial insertion procedures.

Classys achieved sales of 81.1 billion KRW and operating profit of 41.7 billion KRW last year, representing increases of 71% and 139%, respectively, compared to the previous year. The continued popularity of Shurink, which began in 2018, led to this performance improvement.

Kim received the 'Korea Engineer Award' last year, selected by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Industrial Technology Association, in recognition of his contribution to developing Shurink. Kim, who oversees development work at Classys, graduated from the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at Dongyang Technical College in 1999. He worked at the research institutes of Sungjin CNC, Aron Communication Technology, and Oriemt MG before joining Classys in 2008. At Classys, he was responsible for establishing the company-affiliated research institute and developing medical devices. He consecutively developed domestically produced beauty medical devices capable of competing with foreign equipment.