A South Korean shareholders' group said on August 5 that its report regarding pay agreements for executives at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix has been handed over to the Seoul Southern District Police Agency for investigation.

On July 22, the group filed a complaint with the Korean National Investigation Bureau, accusing two CEOs of Samsung Electronics—Young-hyun Jun and Tae-moon Ryu—and SK hynix CEO Kwak No-jung of allegedly breaching their duty of trust. The group argued that performance bonuses paid by the two companies, funded from operating profits, should not fall within the scope of labor-management collective bargaining, and it accused the relevant executives of accepting the executives' bonus demands without conducting sufficient review of the agreements, which could lead to assets being drained from the companies.

It is understood that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have previously reached compensation agreements with their employees. Under the agreements signed in May, Samsung will provide employees with a semiconductor special performance bonus equivalent to 10.5% of operating performance-related earnings. SK hynix, meanwhile, implements a profit-sharing scheme, using 10% of the semiconductor division’s operating profit to distribute bonuses to employees.