“Incheon 7-year-old ‘business owner’ gets 1.73 million won in monthly pay like clockwork” ... 16-year-old representative reports annual pay of 220 million won

[Financial News]  A 7-year-old in Incheon was registered as the representative of a real estate and rental business and received 1.73 million won a month in compensation, it has emerged. A 16-year-old representative received total compensation of 223.46 million won last year.
According to Newsis on the 18th, data obtained from the National Health Insurance Service by Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, showed that as of the end of July, 11 (9.4%) of Incheon’s 117 workplace health insurance subscribers under 18 were business representatives.
The 11 minor business representatives were between 7 and 16 years old: two were aged 7 to 9, five were 10 to 12, and four were 13 to 16. All eight who were under 15 were registered as business representatives rather than ordinary employees. The explanation offered is that under the Labor Standards Act, people under 15 generally cannot be employed as workers.
Their average monthly compensation was about 3.95 million won, 3.7 times the roughly 1.06 million won average for 106 minor workplace health insurance subscribers who were not business representatives. The 11 representatives’ total compensation for last year came to 515.46 million won.
By industry, real estate, rental and business services accounted for the largest group, with 8 (72.7%), followed by transportation, warehousing and telecommunications, with 3 (27.3%). 
The representative with the highest reported compensation was a 16-year-old at a real estate and rental business. Monthly compensation was 18,621,917 won, and total compensation last year was 223,463,014 won—more than 17 times the average for ordinary minor employees.
There were also many cases in which compensation was reported identically down to the last won. Nine of the 11 had compensation that exactly matched that of another minor business representative.
The 7- and 9-year-old representatives had the same monthly compensation of 1,734,166 won (total compensation of 17,676,360 won last year), while the 12- and 15-year-old representatives each received 5,286,932 won a month (total compensation of 63,443,184 won last year). The 10- and 12-year-old representatives also had identical monthly compensation of 1,691,666 won (total compensation of 20,299,998 won last year), as did the 11- and 13-year-old representatives, at 1,677,206 won a month (total compensation of 20,126,472 won last year).
Rep. Heo stressed, “Cases in which minor business representatives’ compensation was reported identically down to the last won, as well as reports of high compensation, need to be examined closely,” adding, “The National Health Insurance Service and the National Tax Service should cross-reference relevant data and carefully check for improper gifting or income splitting.”
[email protected] Kim Su-yeon Reporter