Local Government Officials' Salaries to Increase by 1.4% Next Year... Infectious Disease Response Officials' Allowance Raised from 50,000 to 100,000 Won

Amendments to Local Government Officials' Salary and Allowance Regulations Approved at Cabinet Meeting

On the 24th, medical staff are guiding citizens at the COVID-19 screening clinic at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight on the same day, there were 6,233 new confirmed cases and 1,084 critically ill patients. Photo by Moohnam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Next year, the salaries of local government officials will increase by 1.4% compared to the previous year, and allowances for field and practical workers who work under difficult conditions will also be partially raised.

On the 27th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the revision bill of the Local Government Officials Salary Regulations and the Regulations on Allowances for Local Government Officials, which include improvements in treatment and allowance systems for local government officials next year, was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 28th.

According to the revision bill, the salaries of local government officials will increase by 1.4% next year. However, considering the difficult economic conditions, political officials such as heads of local governments and officials at grade 2 or higher have agreed to return all of their salary increase for next year.

Support for public officials responding to infectious diseases and field workers performing dangerous duties will also be strengthened. To boost the morale of infectious disease response officials who have been overworked due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the Level 1 Infectious Disease Response Medical Duty Allowance, paid to officials directly engaged in medical duties during a Level 1 infectious disease outbreak, will be increased from the current 50,000 KRW per month to 100,000 KRW per month.

Additionally, the monthly ceiling for the emergency duty allowance paid to officials ordered to perform emergency duties and working at disaster emergency organizations and disaster sites will be raised from the current 50,000 KRW to 80,000 KRW.

Meanwhile, to promote parental leave and reduce the burden of child-rearing, the parental leave allowance payment from the 4th to the 12th month of parental leave will be increased to 80% of the monthly salary, the same as the initial 3 months.

Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said, “I hope that improving the treatment of frontline public officials, including medical staff who have been working hard at the forefront of quarantine due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, will strengthen our infectious disease response capabilities.”

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