Former baseball player Choo Shin-soo shared the story behind his voluntary salary cut.
On the 15th, MBC’s ‘Radio Star’ featured guests Choo Shin-soo, Goo Hye-sun, Kwak Si-yang, and Yoon Nam-no.
On that day, Choo Shin-soo said, “In my first year back in Korea, my salary was 2.7 billion won. I received 2.7 billion again the following year. In the year it became three years, a salary cap was introduced in Korean professional baseball, and I cut my salary by 1 billion won. I said that if I continued to receive 2.7 billion won, other players wouldn’t be able to, so I decided to cut it by 1 billion won first. As I continued to cut it, my salary ended up being only 300 to 400 million won.”
Choo Shin-soo, who considered returning to the U.S. after a year, said, “I learned a lot during my year in Korea. In Korea, there is a strict hierarchy based on age among seniors and juniors. However, these juniors felt like colleagues and younger brothers to me. I developed a desire to help the juniors focus more on baseball. So, I decided to stay for four years. Then, I went to the club and said I wouldn’t take a salary. According to the regulations, I couldn’t receive no money at all, so I only took a basic salary of 30 million won. I also said I would donate that. As a result, my salary cut rate became 98%,” which drew attention.
When Kim Gook-jin asked, “Isn’t a 98% salary cut rate unprecedented worldwide?” Choo Shin-soo confidently replied, “It probably won’t be easily broken.”
Meanwhile, ‘Radio Star’ airs every Wednesday at 10:30 PM.
[Lee Se-bin, Star Today Guest Reporter]
