"Martial Law Military Leaders Received Over 20 Million Won Including Bribes in January Salary"

Park Ansu Received 22.92 Million Won
Monthly Salary Plus Lunar New Year Holiday Bonus

It has been revealed that Park An-su, Chief of Staff of the Army (General), and other key figures involved in the December 3 emergency martial law incident received more than 20 million won in monthly salary and Lunar New Year bonuses last month.

According to the 'January 2025 Salary Payment Status' submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to Choo Mi-ae, a member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party of Korea, General Park received a monthly salary of 16,716,660 won on the 10th of last month. On the 24th of the same month, he received a Lunar New Year holiday allowance of 5,576,100 won, confirming that he received a total of 22,922,760 won last month alone.

Former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su is attending the plenary meeting of the "Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Alleged Insurrection through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Seok-yeol Administration" held at the National Assembly. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

In addition, Gwak Jong-geun, former Commander of the Army Special Warfare Command (Lieutenant General), who commanded the martial law troops deployed to the National Assembly during the emergency martial law, received 5,476,680 won as a holiday allowance. Lee Jin-woo, former Commander of the Capital Defense Command (Lieutenant General), received 5,530,780 won. Yeo In-hyung, former Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command (Lieutenant General), who is accused of attempting to arrest key figures after the martial law declaration, and Moon Sang-ho, former Commander of the Defense Intelligence Command (Major General), who ordered the deployment of intelligence troops to the National Election Commission on the day martial law was declared, received 5,476,680 won and 4,585,440 won respectively.

The Ministry of National Defense took disciplinary action by dismissing four commanders, excluding General Park, from their posts on the 20th of last month and placed them on prosecutorial leave on the 6th of this month. Prosecutorial leave is a system that forcibly suspends military personnel at the discretion of their commanders. When such a measure is taken, it is impossible to hold a post until the sentence is finalized, and during the leave period, they typically receive only 50% of their salary.

On the other hand, General Park was not dismissed from his post like the others. This is due to related regulations requiring the formation of a review committee with at least three senior members compared to the person subject to dismissal review. Currently, among active-duty military personnel, only Kim Myung-soo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is senior to General Park. The Ministry of National Defense stated that it is currently reviewing prosecutorial leave for General Park through legal consultation.