[Free Speech Forum] Expand Military Service Compensation in the Public Sector

The controversy over the “non-recognition of military service experience in public institutions” is still ongoing. After the Ministry of Economy and Finance sent an official document to all public institutions and state-owned enterprises nationwide instructing them “not to recognize periods of military service in promotion reviews,” controversy arose among young people.

After the military bonus point system was ruled unconstitutional, the remaining forms of compensation for military service in the public sector were the “military salary step system” and the “military experience recognition system.” However, under the current Act on Support for Discharged Soldiers, the military salary step system is merely an optional provision, with no penalties or incentives attached to compliance or noncompliance. Moreover, the Moon Jae-in administration has been recommending a shift to a job-based pay system on the grounds that public institutions suffer from low productivity, so the number of public institutions implementing the military salary step system is expected to decline even further.

As for the military experience recognition system, it has no legal basis and has been implemented at the discretion of individual public institutions as a form of respect for those who fulfilled their military duty. Yet the Ministry of Economy and Finance suddenly issued an official directive. There is a clear difference in weight between the military salary step system, which public institutions may simply ignore, and an official document from a central government ministry, which they cannot easily disregard. In fact, many public institutions and state-owned enterprises had already moved in line with the central government’s policy direction by implementing female quota systems or abolishing recognition of military experience.

For example, at one national university, even before the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s directive was issued, military experience had been excluded since 2020 from salary step calculations and promotion reviews for all male employees, including existing staff. In less than a year, damage resulting from this policy had already appeared. An employee at the university, identified as Mr. A, said, “Male employees’ morale has dropped severely. The prevailing reaction is, ‘We didn’t come in two years later because we were fooling around, but because we were defending the country. Is it really equality to completely ignore that?’ Some employees are considering moving to private companies that recognize periods of military service. I’m also worried that if I don’t change jobs soon, a bill might be introduced forcing even private companies to prohibit recognition of military experience.”

Private companies have freedom of choice, so whether they recognize military experience or adopt female quota systems is not something the state has the right to interfere with. Public institutions, however, should be approached somewhat differently. If they are funded by taxpayers, they have a duty to repay those who defended the country and fulfilled their military obligations with the highest possible respect.

The policy of not recognizing military experience is also problematic because it will ultimately harm both public institutions and young people. Male employees who receive lower pay despite doing the same work are subjected to real inequality, and their willingness to work actively declines sharply. This leads to lower productivity in public institutions, which in turn causes reductions in new hiring and may ultimately deprive young people who have not yet entered society of opportunities as well.

The controversy over the non-recognition of military experience is the product of an irrational policy that deprives people of fair compensation for fulfilling military service and even undermines opportunities for young people. I hope the government will withdraw its policy of not recognizing military experience and move in the direction of expanding compensation measures for military service in the public sector.

Seungju Kim, Intern Researcher, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: [자유발언대]공공영역의 군 복무 보상책 확대해야

Author: Seung-ju Kim

Date: 2022-01-07

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=free_opinion&pn=9&idx=24481