[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] The number of executives promoted at the top 30 conglomerates in Korea has decreased by nearly 10% compared to last year. The decrease in executive positions at the level of president or higher was greater than that of lower positions, and only one person was promoted to vice president at the top four conglomerates.

It is analyzed that most groups are focusing on efficiency rather than expansion due to increasing domestic and international political uncertainty and the prolonged economic recession amid high interest rates and high prices.     

According to an analysis of the status of 245 affiliates of 21 groups that announced executive promotions (August 1-December 20) among the top 30 groups in terms of assets by Leaders Index (CEO Park Joo-geun) on the 24th, a total of 1,303 people were promoted in the 2025 executive personnel changes. This is a decrease of 9.6% (139 people) from 1,442 people last year. The number of affiliates with executive promotions increased by 4 this year from 152 last year, but the total number of promoted executives actually decreased.   

In particular, the decrease in personnel promoted to the executive level or higher was large. The number of new executives promoted to the level of managing director decreased by 9.6% from 1,129 last year to 1,021 this year, but the number of high-ranking positions above the executive level dropped by half, from 43 to 24.  

As of December 23, two people have been promoted to chairman: Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yoo-kyung and Hyundai Home Shopping Chairman Chung Kyo-sun. The number of vice chairman promotions was 11 last year, but this year, only four people have been promoted: Hyundai Motor Company Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon, HD Hyundai Electric Vice Chairman Cho Suk, GS Holdings Vice Chairman Hong Soon-ki, and Yesco Holdings Vice Chairman Koo Bon-hyeok.

In particular, in the case of the four major conglomerates, with the exception of Hyundai Motor Group, there has been no promotion to vice chairman for three consecutive years. The number of people promoted to president has also decreased from 32 last year to 20 this year (-37.5%), showing a decrease in the number of promotions to high-ranking positions for three consecutive years.  

The five groups that saw more executive promotions than last year are Nonghyup, CJ, DL, Mirae Asset, and Hyundai Department Store, while the remaining 16 groups saw a decrease. More than 80% of the total decrease, or 130 people, are all in the top 10 groups. 

Among the top 10 groups, Hanwha had the largest decrease. The total number of promotions for the 13 Hanwha Group affiliates that announced executive personnel changes this year was 62, which is -37.4% compared to last year (99 people). Hanwha Solutions saw the largest decrease in executive promotions, from 25 last year to 7 this year, and Hanwha Aerospace also saw a decrease from 20 to 12. 

The next group with the largest decrease in executive promotions is GS. It recorded a -33.3% decrease from 42 last year to 28 this year. This was largely due to the significant decrease in executive promotions at GS Construction (19 → 9) and GS Caltex (12 → 1). 

Third is Lotte Group. Last year, 123 executives were promoted, but this year, the number decreased by 27 to 96, showing a -22.0%. Lotte Shopping executive promotions decreased from 21 to 14, while Lotte Chemical had 20, the same as the previous year. 

HD Hyundai Group promoted 72 executives (-12.2%), 10 fewer than the 82 executives last year. Among its affiliates, only HD Hyundai Heavy Industries saw a decrease of 10 (34 → 24).  

LG Group also announced 119 executive personnel changes (-11.9%), down 16 from 135 last year. LG Electronics had 46 personnel changes, similar to last year, but LG Energy Solution saw a sharp drop from 24 to 14, while LG Chem also saw a decrease from 17 to 13. 

SK Group, which had a significant decrease in executive promotions last year (127 → 82) compared to the previous year, saw the number decrease again this year, remaining at 75 (-8.5%). However, in the case of SK, there were significant differences across affiliates. While SK Hynix promoted 34 people, which is about three times more than last year (13 people), due to improved performance, SK Telecom saw a significant decrease from 17 to 3. SK Innovation and SK E&S also saw a slight decrease in the number of promotions. 

Hyundai Motor Group announced 239 personnel changes, down 14 from last year (253). Last year, the number of executives promoted increased significantly compared to the previous year (189), but this year, it decreased by about 5.5%. While Hyundai Motor decreased from 97 last year to 73 this year, Kia increased from 38 to 44. Hyundai Construction also had 16 promotions, twice as many as 7.

Among the top 10 groups, the group with the lowest rate of decline in executive promotions is Samsung. It only decreased by 5 people (-1.9%) from 265 last year to 260 this year.

While Samsung Electronics saw a decrease of 6 from 145 to 139, the number of executives promoted at Samsung SDI (from 21 to 12) and Samsung Heavy Industries (from 13 to 5) plummeted. In contrast, the number of executives promoted at financial affiliates Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (from 8 to 11) and Samsung Securities (from 4 to 6) increased. 

Looking at companies other than the top 10 conglomerates, Kumho Asiana Group recorded a -56.0% decrease from 25 to 11, followed by Doosan Group -40.9% (22 to 13), HDC Group -38.5% (13 to 8), and Shinsegae Group -29.6% (27 to 19). 

On the other hand, Hyundai Department Store Group saw an increase of 81.3% with 29 executives promoted, 13 more than last year (16), and Mirae Asset Group also saw an increase of 32.4% from 68 to 90. CJ Group (14 → 18) and Nonghyup Group (24 → 27) also saw an increase in the number of executives promoted.