K-actor Kim Soo Hyun has been getting the highest per episode salary for a K-drama for years now, even before he left for military service in 2017. With that said, it is still shocking to see the actual amount keep going up, and it’s going up for many top actors and actresses as well so call it salary inflation. K-ent is reporting that his salary for Coupang Play streaming drama One Ordinary Day is 500 million won per episode, which is about $430,000 USD per episode. That’s insane. It’s also frustrating that the current co-highest paid K-actresses (Lee Young Ae, Jeon Ji Hyun, and Song Hye Kyo) are currently only at 200 million won per episode so he’s more than doubled them. He got paid 200 million won per episode for It’s Okay to Not be Okay back in 2019 and back then those three K-actresses were still the highest paid and only got 100 million won per episode. So the actor side increase is exponentially out pacing the ladies. The second highest paid actor salary for a 2021 drama this year is Lee Jung Jae who got 300 million won per episode for Squid Game. In terms of ROI, I think he more than paid for himself and then some for Netflix. K-netizens are mixed feelings on Kim Soo Hyun’s sky high salary, worrying it will hurt him since the expectations will remain sky high that he delivers ratings/return and also that it’s not good for the industry that salaries keep going up and up.