Registered executives at South Korea’s top 20 conglomerates received an average of 1.22 billion won ($1 million) in annual salary in 2012, data showed Friday.

CEOSCORE, a Web site that tracks conglomerates as well as financial firms and state-run companies, released the figures based on its analysis of 448 registered executives at 136 non-financial listed companies affiliated with the country’s top 20 business groups.

The Web site said 77 out of 136 companies paid 1.3 billion won on average to their registered executives while the rest paid 260 million won on average to their registered executives.

The finding came two days after a key parliamentary committee approved a bill requiring the country’s major companies to disclose how much their senior executives are paid if their annual salary exceeds 500 million won.

The National Assembly is set to vote on the bill in coming weeks.

The move is designed to bolster shareholders’ rights and corporate transparency in a country where some chief executive officers of big companies are excessively paid, thus widening unfair pay gaps with lower employees.

According to the data compiled by research service firm CXO Institute, registered executives at Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top smartphone, memory chip and flat-panel TV maker, received 10.9 billion won in annual paychecks on average in 2011.

SK Innovation Co., the nation’s leading oil refiner, ranked second with 4.6 billion won, and the country’s top mobile operator SK Telecom Co. trailed with 3.8 billion won, according to the data. (Yonhap News)