Korean Air Jumbos’ Han Sun-soo signs record high deal

Han Sun-soo of the Korean Air Jumbos has become the first athlete in the Korea Volleyball Association (KOVO) to get paid more than a billion won a year.

Han Sun-soo signed a contract to receive a total of 1.08 billion won consisting of 750 million won in annual salary and an option of 330 million won, according to the KOVO’s data on player enrollments for the 2022-2023 season announced on Friday. Previously, there was only rumor over previous seasons that some volleyball players may get paid more than a billion won a year. Officially, Han was confirmed as the first to reach the 1-billion threshold. Unlike the V-League Women's Teams that started releasing all salary information on their players two seasons ago, Men’s Teams were not required to make all options public until the last season, making it almost impossible to see how much male players get paid.

Added to this, Han was recorded as the second male volleyball pro to sign a more expensive deal than the most paid KBL player of the same season. Kim Sun-hyung of the Seoul SK Knights enrolled as the highest paid player in the upcoming KBL season with a total salary of 800 million won (560 million won in annual salary and 240 million won in incentives), 280 million won down from Han in the KOVO. Hwang Taek-eui of the Uijeongbu KB Insurance Stars got paid 730 million won in the 2020-2021 season, 20 million won ahead of Kim Jong-kyu of the Wonju DB Promy in the KBL.

In V-League Women's Teams, Kim Yeon-koung, who returned home in two years, registered as the highest paid player with a total of 700 million won (450 million won in annual salary with an option of 250 million won). The amount of 700 million won is the maximum allowed for female players as per the KOVO rules. Kim Dan-bi recorded the highest pay of 450 million won (300 million in annual salary with an option of 150 million won) in the WKBL.


Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com