“33,300 non-commissioned officers from 2021 to 2025… only 65.8% of the planned number.”

New Reform Party lawmaker Chun Ha-ram analyzes data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeon Myeong-hoon = The number of military non-commissioned officers actually commissioned over the past five years was found to be 17,300 fewer than the military's selection plan.

According to the analysis of the '2021-2026 (first half) officer and non-commissioned officer manpower status' data submitted by the Ministry of National Defense on the 11th by Rep. Chun Ha-ram of the New Reform Party, a member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly, a total of 33,300 non-commissioned officers were commissioned over the past five years (2021-2025), with a commissioning rate of only 65.8% compared to the military's selection plan (50,600).

The military is establishing a plan to commission non-commissioned officers without much change at around 10,000 people each year, but the commissioning rate compared to the plan has fallen from 88.5% in 2021 and 81.4% in 2022 to 57.3% in 2023, 47.4% in 2024, and 55.5% in 2025, remaining at half the level for the past three consecutive years.

In particular, by military branch, the Army's manpower shortage was the most serious.

The Army planned to commission a total of 31,800 new non-commissioned officers over five years, but the actual number of people commissioned was only 19,000, leaving the cumulative commissioning rate at 59.8%. The number of personnel falling short of plan reached 12,800 in the Army alone, accounting for 74% of the total personnel falling short.

On the contrary, the Air Force maintained a relatively high level of actual commissioning rates compared to the plan: 117.9% in 2021, 120.9% in 2022, 82.2% in 2023, 75.5% in 2024, and 100.6% in 2025.

The commissioning plan is for new personnel that the military determines are needed each year. As the plan falls short, there will be a shortage of NCOs to be deployed to front-line units.

As the shortage of non-commissioned officers continues for a long time, the Army has announced a policy to increase the long-term service selection ratio of non-commissioned officers annually from 20% of the previous number of commissioned officers to 100% by 2028.

In addition, following a 6.6% increase in the basic pay of sergeants and first sergeants this year, the company is also pushing to realize the basic pay of entry-level executives by raising the average monthly pay of sergeants to 3 million won next year.

Representative Cheon said, “The fact that the situation of being unable to recruit only half of the planned new non-commissioned officers has continued for three years is not a temporary phenomenon, but a sign of a structural crisis.” He added, “The compensation, promotion, working conditions, and service period of entry-level executives must be carefully reviewed and redesigned.”