CJ Group chairman Lee Jay-hyun shot up more than 10 spots on Forbes Korea’s list of the wealthiest Koreans, the publication said on Thursday.

Lee catapulted to 10th place from No. 22 last year on the list of the 50 richest people in the country.

Lee’s company has played a big role in Korean entertainment amid the Korean Wave, and the chairman’s wealth jumped 70 percent on-year to $1.7 billion.

The increase was mostly thanks to an 84 percent rise in the stock prices of CJ Corp., the group’s holding company.

Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, meanwhile, maintained the No. 1 position as the wealthiest man in Korea, worth $12.6 billion, up from $10.8 billion a year earlier.

Samsung Electronics is currently the world’s top seller of smartphones, and it reportedly sold 70 million handsets in the first quarter. The electronics company is out to do more damage with its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4.

Hyundai Motor Group’s Chung Mong-koo followed Lee with a net worth of $5.4 billion. His company sold 7.1 million cars last year, but Chung’s net worth shrank by $1.2 billion.

Changing business environments spelled out different fates for other billionaires on the list, with online gaming entrepreneur Kim Jung-ju, who heads Nexon, seeing his net worth decline to $1.6 billion from $4.3 billion the previous year.

In 2011, Kim had more than doubled his net worth to become the biggest gainer on the Forbes list and the country’s third-richest person. Nexon went public in Tokyo in December 2011 as the largest listing of the year, but the stock is now 34 percent lower than its 12-month high, according to Forbes Korea.

Forbes Korea has compiled the annual 50 Rich List since 2005.

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