The military has decided to strengthen the operation of the soldier promotion system. Accordingly, the era of automatic promotion to corporal and sergeant after a certain period is expected to disappear.
According to the military on the 29th, the Ministry of National Defense has decided to apply evaluation to soldier promotions in accordance with the revised 'Military Personnel Act Enforcement Rules' from June last year.
Previously, soldiers were automatically promoted based on months of service unless they committed a special incident. However, under this rule, soldiers will now go through promotion evaluations like officers, with the possibility of being omitted.
Additionally, according to the soldier personnel management directive amendment prepared by the Ministry of National Defense last month, if a soldier fails to be promoted and remains as private first class, they will be promoted to corporal on the 1st of the discharge month, and to sergeant on the discharge day. In other words, a soldier could remain a private first class until the month prior to discharge after two months as a private and experience being a sergeant for just one day before discharge.
Previously, even if a soldier failed the promotion evaluation, the delay was limited to a maximum of two months depending on the military and rank.
The 'extended period for potential promotion omission' in the new soldier personnel management directive has been issued as a guideline to frontline units by each military branch and will be applied as early as next month.
Jeon Ha-kyu, Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense, explained at a regular briefing, 'This is to foster a strong military and encourage a sincere attitude towards military service,' adding, 'It aims to have soldiers evaluated in advance to ensure they have the capabilities befitting their ranks and to wear insignia accordingly.'
Some voices raise concerns related to soldiers' pay. Currently, excluding the savings paid at discharge, soldiers' monthly salaries are 750,000 won for private, 900,000 won for private first class, 1.2 million won for corporal, and 1.5 million won for sergeant. If the private first class rank is maintained until the month before discharge, in the case of the army, the theoretical difference in receipt amount compared to those who have been normally promoted during the 18-month service period will be about 4 million won.