130 Billion in Taxpayer Losses but Lavish Bonuses for Executives... Rank-and-File Salaries Cut as Korea National Oil Corp. Senior Officials Hold Their Own Feast

Average Annual Salary for Level 1 Employees Up 5%
Level 5 and Below See 1% Salary Cut
Kim Donga: "Wage System Must Be Completely Overhauled"

Amid losses amounting to 130 billion won from the deep-sea oil field development project in the East Sea, commonly known as the "Daewang Whale Project," there have been criticisms that senior executives at Korea National Oil Corporation, which is responsible for the project, are receiving excessive compensation and performance bonuses.

On October 7, Assemblywoman Kim Donga of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee, analyzed the salary and performance bonus data for executives and employees provided by Korea National Oil Corporation. The analysis revealed that, despite being in a state of capital erosion, the corporation is paying top executives annual salaries exceeding 100 million won, performance bonuses in the tens of millions of won, and monthly business promotion expenses.

According to the submitted data, President Kim Dongseop received an annual salary of 137.87 million won and a performance bonus of 48.16 million won last year. So far this year, he has received an annual salary of 94.4 million won and a performance bonus of 53.98 million won.

Last year, Standing Auditor Park Gongwoo received an annual salary of 110.3 million won and a performance bonus of 44.12 million won. So far this year, he has received an annual salary of 75.52 million won. Standing Director Choi Moonkyu received an annual salary of 110.3 million won and a performance bonus of 36.12 million won last year, and so far this year, he has received an annual salary of 75.52 million won and a performance bonus of 30.88 million won.

Despite the National Assembly having completely cut the budget for the Daewang Whale Project last year, Standing Director Kwak Wonjun, who incited the board with the arbitrary interpretation that "the National Assembly decided to support the project," received an annual salary of 40.32 million won after taking office in August 2024, and as of 2025, has received an annual salary of 75.52 million won and a performance bonus of 23.22 million won.

In the early morning of December 30 last year, the West Capella was conducting exploratory drilling operations at the Daewang Whale promising structure located in the sea off Pohang City, Gyeongbuk. Photo by Yonhap News

As of 2025, the monthly business promotion expense allocation for executives is 1.4 million won for the president, 1.3 million won for the standing auditor, and 900,000 won for division heads, with the possibility of additional annual expenditures in the tens of millions of won.

Last year, the average compensation for employees by grade was as follows: for Grade 1 employees, the average annual salary was 123.615 million won (a 5.0% increase) with a performance bonus of 35.01 million won; for Grade 2, the average annual salary was 106.161 million won (a 1.4% increase) with a performance bonus of 26.202 million won.

In contrast, the average annual salary for employees at Grade 5 and below was 53.635 million won, representing a 1.0% decrease.

Assemblywoman Kim criticized, "It is a betrayal of the public for a state-run enterprise, operated with taxpayers' money, to maintain excessive compensation and various benefits for senior executives while incurring losses of hundreds of billions of won," adding, "The same principles must be applied across all public institutions facing capital erosion and potential insolvency, and the wage system should be completely overhauled to match performance and responsibility."