S. Korean soldiers' wages almost doubled

SEOUL: South Korea nearly doubled wages for its rank-and-file conscripted soldiers on Tuesday but their pay will remain just a fraction of the country's minimum wage.

Salaries for conscripted privates were raised 88% from 163,000 won to 306,100 won (RM1140) a month, with privates first class and corporals enjoying similar increases.

But they remain far below South Korea's minimum wage of 10,000 won (RM37) per hour.

President Moon Jae-In has promised to increase conscripts' pay to half the minimum wage by 2022.

As part of the changes, public servants' wages rose an average 2.6%, while Moon's own salary went up 2.27% to 225 million won a year.

Conscripts, most of them in their early 20, account for the lion's share of the military's 690,000 active personnel.

All able-bodied South Korean men between 18 and 35 are obliged to perform military service for about two years.

They are plunged into a world of harsh military discipline, often after a cosseted childhood, and the experience can be daunting, particularly for those posted to the border with North Korea.

Barrack-room bullying has been blamed for numerous suicides and incidents where conscripts have turned their weapons on their comrades. — AFP