The glass ceiling most certainly exists in corporate Korea, particularly in the financial sector, recent figures showed.

Out of 61 registered executives at the nation’s 10 publicly run financial companies, director Roh Jeong-ran of the Korea Asset Management Corp. was singled out as the only woman, according to a government-run data system on publicly-operated firms on Monday.

Further, since 2008, these 10 companies had hired 356 female executives, just one-quarter of the total. In comparison, the overall portion of executive posts taken up by women at the nation’s 288 public companies was 45 percent during the same period.

Among the group, financial IT solutions firm Koscom and policy financing company Korea Finance Corp. had the lowest percentage of female employment at 15 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.

The figures come as presidential candidates are promising left and right to increase the quota for women in the workplace.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)