“A sergeant gets 1.5 million won, while a staff sergeant earns 2.13 million?” ... Pay up 27%, but junior NCOs remain in short supply

[Financial News] The number of staff sergeants, a backbone of the military, has fallen by more than a third over the past four years. The NCO recruitment rate has also remained in the 50%–60% range for three consecutive years, prompting concerns that the shortage of junior NCOs is continuing.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense, the average annual operating strength of staff sergeants, including term-service NCOs, fell from around 43,000 in 2021 to around 27,300 last year—a decline of around 15,700 (36.5%). The data were obtained by Min Hong-chul, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker from Gimhae-gap, South Gyeongsang Province, who serves on the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, on the 27th.
Over the same period, the operating strength of junior military leaders, comprising staff sergeants, second lieutenants and first lieutenants, fell from around 63,600 to around 45,600, a decrease of around 18,000 (28.3%). Staff sergeants accounted for 87.2% of the total decline.
The NCO recruitment rate (selection rate) has also been on a downward trend since 2021. Ministry of National Defense data show that the rate fell from 91.5% in 2021 and 86.0% in 2022 to 55.1% in 2023 and 50.1% in 2024. It rose to 61.0% last year, up 10.9 percentage points from the previous year, but remained 30.5 percentage points below the 2021 rate.
By contrast, the number of staff sergeants discharged from service fell from around 5,990 in 2021 to around 3,370 in 2025. The ratio of discharges to average annual operating strength also generally trended down, from 14% in 2021 to 13% in 2023, 11% in 2024 and 12% last year.
Observers inside and outside the military have pointed to the fallout from sharp increases in enlisted soldiers’ monthly pay as a cause of the difficulty recruiting junior military leaders.

The gap in base pay between sergeants and newly appointed staff sergeants has indeed narrowed significantly. A sergeant’s monthly base pay rose 146.5%, from 608,500 won in 2021 to 1.5 million won this year. Over the same period, base pay for a staff sergeant at the first pay step rose just 27.1%, from 1,678,100 won to 2,133,000 won.
As a result, base pay for a first-step staff sergeant was about 2.8 times a sergeant’s base pay in 2021, but is now about 1.4 times as much.
The Ministry of National Defense estimates that a newly appointed staff sergeant will take home around 41 million won this year. However, that amount includes pay for an average of 23 hours of overtime per month, as well as duty allowances for about two weekday shifts and one holiday shift.
The 48 hours spent on duty shifts and 23 hours of overtime add up to 71 additional work hours per month, which are used to calculate the relevant allowances. Including these hours, the monthly workload comes to about 247 hours; annual compensation reaches around 41 million won only when various allowances are included.
The Ministry of National Defense said it is discussing with the Ministry of Planning and Budget a plan to raise first-step staff sergeants’ base pay by 6.6%, with the goal of bringing their average monthly compensation to 3 million won next year.
Min said, “If the situation continues in which the military cannot secure enough NCOs, the backbone of the armed forces, it could disrupt command capabilities in the field and combat readiness. Base pay needs to be brought in line with the responsibilities and workload of junior military leaders.”
He added, “We need to develop practical measures encompassing pay, working conditions and opportunities for long-term service so that young people will choose to become NCOs as an attractive career.”
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter