[Numbers in the News] National Assembly Members' Monthly Salary 11 Million Won... 4 Million Won Bonus for Chuseok

Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party, recently revealed on a YouTube channel how he spends his monthly salary of 11 million KRW, drawing renewed attention to the salaries of National Assembly members. Lee, who entered the 22nd National Assembly, also appeared on the MBN variety show 'GabojaGO' last July, where he disclosed that his first salary after becoming a member of the National Assembly was about 9.92 million KRW after tax.

According to the National Assembly Secretariat, the annual salary of National Assembly members this year is about 157 million KRW before tax. This is an increase of approximately 3 million KRW (1.7%) from last year's 154 million KRW.

On the 15th, dark clouds gathered heavily over the National Assembly building. With the 22nd general election having concluded on the 10th, attention is focused on how the 21st National Assembly, with just over a month left in its term, will resolve pressing issues such as pension reform and the abolition of the financial investment tax. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The salary of National Assembly members consists of general allowances, legislative activity expenses, special activity expenses, and more.

According to the '2024 Regulations on the Payment of Allowances for National Assembly Members,' the general allowance, which can be considered the basic salary of National Assembly members, is 7,079,900 KRW per month. In addition, there is a management duty allowance of 637,190 KRW and a fixed meal allowance of 140,000 KRW. Legislative activity expenses included in the costs amount to 3,136,000 KRW, and special activity expenses are 784,000 KRW. Altogether, this exceeds 11 million KRW per month.

Every year, bonus allowances such as the long-service allowance of 7,079,900 KRW and the holiday vacation allowance of 8,495,880 KRW are paid twice each. According to these regulations, National Assembly members are expected to receive about 4.24 million KRW as a holiday bonus for this year's Chuseok holiday.

Although National Assembly members represent the people, there are criticisms that their compensation is disconnected from the income levels of ordinary citizens. For this reason, until just before the general election, some in the political sphere proposed lowering the salaries of National Assembly members to the median income level. High salaries are frequently mentioned as one of the privileges that National Assembly members should relinquish, but serious discussions beyond political camps have not taken place.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the median income for a household of four this year was 5.73 million KRW per month.

Among regular workers, it is also rare to receive a bonus during the Chuseok holiday. According to a survey conducted by Incruit on 1,055 workers from the 3rd to 4th of this month, only 35.5% of respondents said they received a Chuseok bonus, with an average amount of 838,000 KRW. (Sample error ±2.96% at a 95% confidence level)