Kwon Oh-hyun, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., was the country's highest-paid corporate executive, receiving some 14 billion won ($12.3 million) in the first half of the year, and is once again to become the top wage-earner this year, data showed on Monday.

According to the semi-annual business report compiled by Samsung, Kwon received a paycheck totaling 13.9 billion won in the first six months of the year, a whopping increase from 2.9 billion won a year earlier.

Kwon, who is in charge of Samsung's semiconductor and display unit, has been the country's most paid corporate executive for second straight year with his earnings being tallied at 6.7 billion won in 2016 and 14.95 billion won in 2015.

His income includes a one-time special bonus worth 8 billion won as the unit posted record earnings in the January-June period.

Suh Kyung-bae, the president of AmorePacific Corp., the No. 1 cosmetics maker, came second with a salary of 9.64 billion won, according to its semi-annual business report.

Yoon Boo-keun, a Samsung Electronics president who leads the tech giant's consumer electronics business unit, came in third, receiving some 5.1 billion won. Shin Jong-kyun, who heads Samsung's IT & Mobile Communications Division, ranked fourth with 5 billion won, Samsung's business report showed.

Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group whose affiliates include Hyundai Motor Co., was paid some 4 billion won, while Chey Tae-won, chairman of energy and telecom conglomerate SK Group, received a 1 billion won in the first half of the year

In South Korea, companies are required to release the salary information of executives who earn more than 500 million won a year if they are members of the board of directors.

The law took effect in November 2013 to enhance corporate transparency, in line with a global trend as most advanced economies require companies to make their executives' pay packages public. (Yonhap)