Next Year’s Sergeant Monthly Pay 1 Million Won... Up 323,900 Won from This Year

2023 Defense Budget Proposal... Including Asset Formation Program, Up to 1.3 Million KRW per Month
Private First Class Pay Raised from 510,100 KRW to 600,000 KRW

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Next year marks the era of soldiers receiving a monthly salary of 1 million won.

According to the 2023 defense budget announced by the government on the 30th, the monthly salary of a sergeant, which is 676,100 won this year, will increase by 323,900 won next year to reach 1 million won. The Yoon Seok-yeol administration plans to raise the sergeant's monthly salary to 1.5 million won by 2025. Next year, the corporal's salary will rise from 610,200 won to 800,000 won, the private first class from 552,100 won to 680,000 won, and the private from 510,100 won to 600,000 won. The platoon leader activity allowance, frozen since 2017, will increase from 62,500 won to 125,000 won per month based on 25 platoon members, and the chief warrant officer activity allowance, frozen since 2012, which was previously paid between 200,000 and 300,000 won per unit, will be uniformly set at 300,000 won. To prevent a decline in short-term service officer and non-commissioned officer recruitment rates due to the pay raise, the short-term service incentive payment given as a lump sum will be increased by 50%, raising it from 6 million won to 9 million won for officers and from 5 million won to 7.5 million won for non-commissioned officers.

The Ministry of National Defense stated that the increase amounts were set higher for higher ranks considering service experience, proficiency, role importance, and motivation for promotion. The Tomorrow Preparation Savings, which helps soldiers build assets during service, will have government support increased from a maximum of 141,000 won per month to 300,000 won. In this case, those who pay the maximum amount and are discharged by December next year can save about 11.97 million won.

Including the asset formation program, sergeants will effectively receive 1.3 million won monthly next year. The total cost of the Tomorrow Preparation Savings and soldier wages will rise from 2.524 trillion won this year to 3.4869 trillion won next year.

To improve soldiers' living conditions, the current barracks, which accommodate 8 to 10 people per room, will be changed to 2 to 4 people per room. Design costs for changing 52 out of approximately 3,000 barracks buildings have been included in next year's budget. Bedding currently used both outdoors and indoors by the Army and Marine Corps, such as blankets and bedrolls, will be replaced entirely with indoor-use blankets, with 21.3 billion won invested. Early distribution of personal combat gear such as 2,787 lightweight ballistic helmets (3.9 billion won) for soldiers performing high-risk and difficult missions, and counter-terrorism equipment (7 billion won) will also be promoted.

Additionally, to provide timely and optimal medical care, the Ministry will strengthen military medical capabilities by establishing a mobile telemedicine system, an integrated medical situation center control system, and a civilian hospital cooperation project for the Armed Forces Trauma Center.

Conditions for relatively neglected officers' command and service will also be improved. The housing allowance, unchanged for 27 years since 1995, will be doubled from 80,000 won to 160,000 won per month. The Ministry of National Defense noted that these officer activity allowances and benefits had been left unattended for a long time without any particular occasion and is considering measures to review the amount criteria periodically in the future. Compensation for mobilization training will increase from 62,000 won to 82,000 won, and investment in reserve force modernization, such as the reserve force science training center, will also increase.

The training and education support budget for strengthening the ROK-U.S. combined exercises and training, which the Yoon Seok-yeol administration emphasizes, has been allocated 124.9 billion won. Brigade-level ROK-U.S. combined exercises, including carrier strike group training and Marine Corps combined amphibious training, which will resume from next year, will be funded from this budget item.

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