Top 50 Highest Paying Jobs In Korea
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
Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.
| Profession | Annual Salary |
| Executive Management | 147 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
Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.
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
Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.
| Profession | Annual Salary |
| Family Physician | 82.94 million won |
| Professor (Education) | 81.55 million won |
| General Practitioner | 81.00 million won |
| Professor (Medicine) | 80.17 million won |
| Judge | 79.67 million won |
| Pediatrist | 79.62 million won |
| Accountant | 78.39 million won |
| Professor (Engineering) | 78.35 million won |
| Gynecologist | 77.57 million won |
| Anesthesiologist | 76.61 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
Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.
| Profession | Annual Salary |
| Helicopter Pilot | 76.53 million won |
| Professor (Sociology) | 75.44 million won |
| Urologists | 74.59 million won |
| Junior High School Principal – Vice Principal | 72.38 million won |
| Philosophy Scholar | 72.13 million won |
| Professor (Arts and Sports) | 72.09 million won |
| Pro Sport Athlete | 70.71 million won |
| Foreign Currency Trader | 69.70 million won |
| Civil Servant Management | 69.52 million won |
| Pharmacist | 69.11 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
Note: The numbers below are median salaries and conversions to USD are rounded.
| Profession | Annual Salary |
| Dermatologist | 68.84 million won |
| Middle Management (Public and Private Sector) | 68.75 million won |
| Military Officer | 68.63 million won |
| Financial Assets Trader | 68.17 million won |
| Financial Instruments Developer | 68.17 million won |
| General Affairs, HR Management | 67.64 million won |
| Elementary School Principal, Vice Principal | 67.27 million won |
| Government Think Tank Analyst | 67.08 million won |
| Movie Director | 66.61 million won |
| Planning, Advertisement Management | 66.19 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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