[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Has the Addition of Non-Commissioned Officer Ranks Been Abandoned?

Through squad attack training, the platoon leader is acquiring the combat skills they must possess.

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] There are concerns that the Ministry of National Defense's plan to increase the number of non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks may have effectively fallen through. This is because, under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the increase in soldiers' wages has overlapped with the burden of raising NCO wages, preventing implementation.

In 2015, the Ministry of National Defense announced plans to expand the NCO rank system from five levels. To promote efficient personnel management and service activation for NCOs, the 'Partial Amendment to the Military Personnel Act' was re-announced, expanding the rank system from the current Corporal-Sergeant-Staff Sergeant-Master Sergeant to Corporal-Sergeant-Staff Sergeant-Master Sergeant-Senior Master Sergeant. At that time, the Ministry stated that Senior Master Sergeants would be responsible for personnel management of NCOs serving in brigade-level and division-level or higher units. This plan was also reported to the Presidential Transition Committee shortly after President Park Geun-hye's election in 2013.

The Ministry explained the expansion of the rank system by citing that the U.S. military maintains a seven-rank system for NCOs: Private First Class-Corporal-Sergeant-Staff Sergeant-Master Sergeant-First Sergeant-Sergeant Major, and that China also has a seven-rank system: Corporal-Sergeant-Staff Sergeant-4th Grade Military Officer-3rd Grade Military Officer-2nd Grade Military Officer-1st Grade Military Officer.

However, the situation worsened when President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol made "soldiers' monthly salary of 2 million won" a key campaign pledge. As of 2022, soldiers' monthly salaries are 510,000 won for Private, 550,000 won for Private First Class, 610,000 won for Corporal, and 670,000 won for Sergeant. The plan was to raise soldiers' salaries to 800,000?1,000,000 won first, then pay the difference up to 2 million won upon discharge. If the average soldier's salary of 540,000 won were raised to 2 million won, an additional 5.1 trillion won per year would be required. This amount accounts for 9.3% of this year's defense budget of 54.6112 trillion won.

Given this situation, the wage burden from establishing new NCO ranks inevitably increases. The Ministry of National Defense estimates that NCO wages will increase by about 30 billion won annually due to the creation of new NCO ranks.

Some argue that the perception of NCOs within the military must be changed first. A 2018 survey by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea involving 1,160 NCOs across the armed forces found that 33.3% of male NCOs and 44.4% of female NCOs responded that they had experienced discrimination from officers because they were NCOs. At that time, former Minister of National Defense Seo Wook also instructed the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to "prepare improvement measures" after receiving reports related to complaints to the Human Rights Commission.

Inside and outside the military, proposals have been made to clearly codify the rank differences between officers and NCOs in Ministry of National Defense directives, adding obligations such as 'obedience and respect.' Additionally, measures such as prohibiting officers from using informal speech while not addressing NCOs as 'nim' (a respectful suffix), and clearly assigning rank-specific roles within the NCO corps?such as Unit Inspector (Master Sergeant) and Administrative Safety Officer (Staff Sergeant)?are also being discussed.