Ever wondered how much your favorite K-drama stars get paid? With reports of some actors pulling in more than a billion won (around $720,000) per episode, it’s no surprise there’s a lot of curiosity about actor salaries in Korea. Let’s take a peek into their world and see who’s topping the charts.
Song Joong Ki
Song Joong Ki reportedly earned 8.8 billion won (approximately $6.3 million) for his roles in tvN’s drama Vincenzo and JTBC’s drama Reborn Rich. He is said to have received 200 million won (approximately $143,000) per episode for the 20-episode Vincenzo and over 300 million won (approximately $216,000) per episode for the 16-episode Reborn Rich.
Kim Soo Hyun
The actor with the highest reported per-episode fee is Kim Soo Hyun. He reportedly earned 500 million won (approximately $400,000) per episode for the 8-episode Coupang Play drama One Day in 2021, a significant portion of the drama’s 1.25 billion won (approximately $898,000) per episode production cost. Previously, he was said to have received 800 million won (approximately $575,000) per episode for tvN’s Queen of Tears. However, reports later indicated that Kim Soo Hyun voluntarily reduced his fee to 300 million won (approximately $216,000) per episode to ease the production burden. The total production cost of Queen of Tears was 56 billion won (approximately $40.2 million) for its 16 episodes, or about 350 million won (approximately $252,000) per episode.
Park Eun Bin
There were rumors that Park Eun Bin would receive 300 million won (approximately $216,000) per episode for her role in the upcoming drama Hyper Knife. However, her agency and production company representatives denied these claims, stating that “there was no such proposal.”
IU
IU is considered the highest-paid actress in the Korean entertainment industry. It was reported that her per-episode fee for the upcoming Netflix drama When Life Gives You Tangerines is 500 million won (approximately $359,000). Park Bo Gum, who also stars in the drama, is reportedly receiving a similar amount. However, IU’s agency has denied the rumors about her payment.
Song Kang Ho
Song Kang Ho was reported to have received 700 million won (approximately $503,000) per episode for his role in the Disney Plus drama Uncle Samsik. Originally set to receive a total of 7 billion won (approximately $5 million) for the 10-episode drama, the number of episodes was later increased to 16. Consequently, Song Kang Ho’s agency clarified that his per-episode pay for Uncle Samsik is less than 400 million won (approximately $287,000) due to the increase in episodes.
Lee Jung Jae
Lee Jung Jae reportedly received more than 1 billion won per episode for his role in Squid Game Season 2 on Netflix. As the first K-drama to exceed a 100 billion won ($71.9 million) production cost, the lead actor Lee Jung Jae is said to have received $1 million (approximately 1.4 billion won) per episode. This marks the highest-ever per-episode fee for a Korean actor. With Squid Game planned for 13 episodes over three seasons, Lee Jung Jae’s total estimated earnings could reach $13 million (18 billion won).
Bae Yong Joon
Bae Yong Joon reportedly received 250 million won (approximately $180,000) per episode for his role in the 2007 drama The Legend. At the time, his agency explained that this payment wasn’t just for his appearance but also included profits distributed to the agency for its direct participation in the drama.
According to the Korean Broadcasting Actors’ Union and the Korea Broadcasting Performers’ Association, the late Lee Sun Kyun received 200 million won ($144,000) per episode for his role in Payback, and Namgoong Min received 160 million won ($115,000) per episode for his role in One Dollar Lawyer.
