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Top 50 Highest Paying Jobs In Korea

The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

정영여영이
4 years ago

The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

There is no doubt that South Korea is a highly developed country, offering good career opportunities but also high living costs. However, there is also a huge wealth gap problem that doesn’t seem to be fixed very easily.

Some professions in Korea are very well paid, and many families spend fortunes on their children’s education hoping that it will increase their chances of getting a prestigious and lucrative job.

For this article, we have used numbers reported by Korea Employment Information Service to rank the top 50 highest paid professions in Korea.


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Top 10


The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.

ProfessionAnnual Salary
Executive Management147 million won
Members of the Diet
140 million won
Maritime Pilot
126 million won
Surgeon
110 million won
Dental Surgeon
107 million won
Airplane Pilot
104.7 million won
Ophthalmologist
104.2 milllion won
Physician
95 million won
Korean Medicine Doctor
92.23 million won
Upper Level Civil Servant
92.01 million won


CEOs and other top management of companies in the private sector are included in Execute Management pocketing around 128,000 USD.

On place number three we find Maritime Pilot (110,000 USD), a famously dangerous but well paid profession. 

Other highly prestigious and well paid professions include airplane pilot (91,000 USD), upper level civil servant (80,000 USD) and surgeons (96,000 USD).

Needless to say, the competition to get any of these jobs is fierce!


Rank 11-20


The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.

Profession
Annual Salary
Financial Management
89.39 million won
Radiologist
88.53 million won
University Principals/ Deans
88.52 million won
Psychiatrist
87.83 million won
Otolaryngologist87.70 million won
Plastic Surgeon87.23 million won
Market Research Management
87.15 million won
Professor (Humanities)
86.22 million won
Lawyer
85.53 million won
Professor (Natural Science)
83.48 million won


We are not surprised that doctors and surgeons are well represented among the top-earners in Korea. Other professions that many dream of are university professor and lawyer (75,000 USD). 

Getting employment at a law firm is not an easy feat, but once you land a position, your starting salary will equal or surpass the starting salary of employees of corporate giants in Korea.


Rank 21-30


The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.

Profession
Annual Salary
Family Physician82.94 million won
Professor (Education)81.55 million won
General Practitioner81.00 million won
Professor (Medicine)80.17 million won
Judge79.67 million won
Pediatrist79.62 million won
Accountant78.39 million won
Professor (Engineering)78.35 million won
Gynecologist77.57 million won
Anesthesiologist76.61 million won


Moving on to place 21-30, doctors continue to dominate the list. But perhaps more curious is that judges (69,000 USD) seem to earn less than lawyers in Korea.

Similar to lawyers, once you earn your certification as an accountant (68,000 USD), your starting salary is relatively high.


Rank 31-40


The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.

Profession
Annual Salary
Helicopter Pilot76.53 million won
Professor (Sociology)75.44 million won
Urologists74.59 million won
Junior High School Principal – Vice Principal72.38 million won
Philosophy Scholar72.13 million won 
Professor (Arts and Sports)72.09 million won
Pro Sport Athlete70.71 million won
Foreign Currency Trader69.70 million won
Civil Servant Management69.52 million won
Pharmacist69.11 million won


Here we find that pro athletes (62,000 USD) also belong to the big earners. This number reflects the fixed salary (bonuses included) that they receive from their employers, but of course many have additional sources of income, from commercials and other.


Rank 41-50


The Most Profitable Professions In Korea! Doctors Not In The Top 3? See The Whole List!

Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.

Profession
Annual Salary
Dermatologist68.84 million won
Middle Management (Public and Private Sector)68.75 million won
Military Officer68.63 million won
Financial Assets Trader68.17 million won 
Financial Instruments Developer68.17 million won
General Affairs, HR Management67.64 million won
Elementary School Principal, Vice Principal
67.27 million won
Government Think Tank Analyst 67.08 million won
Movie Director66.61 million won
Planning, Advertisement Management66.19 million won


As we can see, military officer (58,000 USD) is also a high-paying profession.

Movie director (58,000 USD) refers to directors who have landed a contract for productions. Their salaries may seem high, but actually many high earners in Korea work within the huge entertainment industry.


In this article, we have presented the top 50 highest paying professions in Korea. With the cut-throat competition starting already from young age, landing any of these jobs is not an easy task.

Do you have a friend in Korea with any of these jobs? We're sure that they have been through a lot to reach their current position.


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