Dividend payments to the owners of South Korea's top 10 conglomerates will rise some 1.9 percent this year despite their firms' sluggish earnings, data showed Tuesday. The combined amount of dividends for the business tycoons was tallied at 245 billion won (US$228 million), compared with 240 billion won in 2013, according to the data by Chaebul.com, a corporate information provider on large businesses.