▲ Min Kyung-kwon, representative of the Korea Shareholders Movement Headquarters, speaks on Samsung Electronics Co.'s wage agreement in a rally in Suwon, south of Seoul, in this file photo from May 27, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- A minority shareholder rights group on Wednesday filed complaints against Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon and the chief executive officers of Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. over the companies' recently signed wage deals that will use part of their operating profits to pay performance bonuses to their employees.

The group, which calls itself the Korea Shareholders Movement Headquarters, argues performance bonuses should not have been subject to collective bargaining in the first place.

The group filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against the labor minister on charges of abuse of power, obstruction of the exercise of rights and coercion.

Kim helped bring Samsung's prolonged wage dispute to an end May 20 through the government's labor dispute mediation process.

The shareholder group argued that the minister had induced the conclusion of Samsung's tentative wage agreement, although performance bonuses are not subject to collective bargaining or labor disputes.

The group filed a separate complaint with the National Office of Investigation against Samsung Electronics CEOs Jeon Young-hyun and Roh Tae-moon and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung on charges of breach of trust.

It claimed that the CEOs of the two companies created a mechanism to siphon off corporate assets by agreeing to performance bonus demands without thoroughly reviewing the labor-management agreement.

The group also argued that it is illegal to predetermine a certain percentage of pre-tax operating profit and allocate it to performance bonuses, and that the distribution of corporate funds, including performance bonuses, is a matter that requires approval at a general shareholders' meeting.

Under the wage agreement reached in May, Samsung will provide a special semiconductor performance bonus equivalent to 10.5 percent of business performance earnings. SK hynix has a profit-sharing system that allocates 10 percent of the semiconductor division's operating profit to employee bonuses.

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