PPP leader proposes drastic cuts to lawmakers’ salaries
Are Korean lawmakers are overpaid?
Surveys consistently show a majority of voters feel their salaries are too high. However, calls to reduce their wages to a reasonable level have been ignored for decades, as a silent majority within the National Assembly has thwarted tangible reforms.
Han Dong-hoon, interim leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), suggested, Thursday, that the time may be ripe for a change. At a meeting with other high-profile party members, he said he knows the negative public perception of lawmakers’ excessive salaries and proposed the idea of tying the amount of taxpayers’ money they receive to the country’s median income.
“Lawmakers are representatives of the people, not just high-ranking public officials,” he said. “Given that they play roles as representatives, I thought it would be symbolic if they receive a salary around the median income level of the people.”
Han added that discussion of the issue is essential because lawmakers are supposed to “serve” the people, urging all Assembly members to join “regardless of their political affiliations.”
According to Statistics Korea, a government organization responsible for managing national statistics, the median monthly income in 2023 was 2.07 million won ($1,560) for one-person households and 5.4 million won for four-person ones.
Meanwhile, lawmakers received average salaries for the year of more than 150 million won, or about 13 million won monthly. This amount does not include other expenses such as wages for their staffers, office management, food, car maintenance and business trips among many others.
Han said the PPP has not accepted the reform idea as its official position yet.
However, it will likely become the party’s pledge soon, ahead of the general elections set to be held in April, an expert told The Korea Times.
“Politicians run for public office, saying that they do so to serve the people instead of being served. But a majority of voters see it differently. Many perceive that the political position is a privileged one attached with a high salary and other benefits,” said Lee Hyun-chool, a political science professor at Konkuk University.
“So many voters would support the idea, which I believe will push PPP members to agree to make it the party’s official pledge eventually.”
What’s less clear, however, is whether lawmakers will approve such reform efforts once the elections are over, as they have done many times in the past.
One way to make the pledge more practical and appealing is to fix a specific date or a period by or during which the PPP would push for the promised reform, Lee said.
A survey conducted in 2018 by RnSearch, a pollster, showed 73.1 percent of respondents think lawmakers’ salaries are too high, while only 17.17 percent said they disagree.
In another attempt to reform the legislative branch of government, Han pledged last month that his party will immediately propose a bill to reduce the number of Assembly members to 250 from 300 if it secures a majority.