Providing 10 Million Won to Soldiers Upon Discharge

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Starting next year, soldiers' monthly pay will increase to 676,100 KRW for sergeants. This amount is 50% of the 2017 minimum wage and 67,500 KRW higher than this year. In particular, if a soldier saves 400,000 KRW every month during the 18 months of military service, they can accumulate a lump sum of 10 million KRW upon discharge.

The government announced on the 31st that it has allocated 55.2277 trillion KRW for the 2022 defense budget and will submit it to the National Assembly on the 3rd of next month. This is a 4.5% increase compared to this year's budget of 52.8401 trillion KRW. Next year's defense budget consists of 17.3365 trillion KRW for defense capability improvement (a 2.0% increase) and 37.8912 trillion KRW for operational expenses (a 5.7% increase). If the budget passes the National Assembly as proposed, the average annual increase rate of the defense budget during the Moon Jae-in administration will reach 6.5%.

According to the government proposal, the "Soldier Tomorrow Preparation Savings" account, a fixed deposit product with a basic interest rate of about 5% per year, will also receive national funding support. Assuming a soldier deposits the maximum monthly limit of 400,000 KRW at an annual 5% interest rate for the 18 months of Army service, the final amount received will be 7,542,000 KRW. Additionally, if the government provides a 1% supplementary interest rate, the national support amounting to 2.51 million KRW will be added, enabling the accumulation of approximately 10 million KRW. To this end, the government newly allocated 219.1 billion KRW for the Tomorrow Preparation Support Project budget. Those enlisting from January 2 next year who deposit the maximum monthly limit of 400,000 KRW will receive the amount upon discharge in June 2023.

The defense capability improvement budget includes 11.2 billion KRW for the development of micro satellites for North Korea surveillance, 421 billion KRW for a 3,000-ton class submarine, and 18.9 billion KRW for the long-range artillery interception system (Korean Iron Dome). A total of 4.665 trillion KRW has been allocated specifically to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, which are centered on these capabilities. The production cost of one micro SAR satellite (synthetic aperture radar) is about 7 billion KRW, which is approximately 30 times cheaper than a large satellite.

However, the Air Force F-35A stealth fighter project budget was reduced from 1.2 trillion KRW this year to only 2 billion KRW next year. This cut occurred during the process of increasing the second supplementary budget for disaster relief payments. The Ministry of National Defense explained that this was because the major equipment payments had already been completed.

The budget for the introduction of frying robots, which the Ministry of National Defense promoted to reduce the workload of cooks, was not included. This has led to criticism that the promotion was excessive without a proper budget. However, to reduce cooks' workload, 1248 ovens, 4077 conveyor-type toasters, and six other types of cooking equipment will be supplied with a budget of 33.5 billion KRW, and 4.4 billion KRW has been allocated to outsource the cleaning of 2717 ventilation ducts in military dining halls to the private sector.

Compensation for reservist mobilization training will increase by 31.9%, from 47,000 KRW to 62,000 KRW. In line with the plan to reduce active-duty forces to 500,000 by 2022, 937 non-commissioned officers and 4,566 civilian employees will be added.

A budget of 37.5 billion KRW has also been allocated to purchase 742 commercial drones for education and combat experiments from the private sector. Additionally, 20 3D printers (14.3 billion KRW) will be newly introduced to produce discontinued parts, and 29.7 billion KRW has been allocated to strengthen national cyber security response capabilities.

The government stated, "In preparation for all-around security threats, we prioritized reflecting the needs for power enhancement such as nuclear and WMD response systems, as well as essential military operation requirements including logistics, facilities, and education and training." It added, "We focused on budgeting for recent issues such as meal improvement and soldier welfare enhancement, as well as defense research and development budgets necessary to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic defense industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.