The Evolution of Soldier Salaries: From Land and Rice to 2 Million Won in Korean History

From generals receiving entire villages as salary in the Three Kingdoms period to modern sergeants earning 2 million won, soldier salaries have reflected the times.

• The changes in soldier salary (compensation) systems from the Three Kingdoms to modern times
• The meaning soldier salaries hold in our history and society
• The value of modern soldier salaries and their historical background

Recently, news that sergeant salaries will exceed 2 million won starting in 2025 has sparked great interest. Looking at soldier salaries approaching minimum wage, one wonders what it was like in the past. Unlike today’s bank account numbers, in the past, land deeds or sacks of rice served as pay envelopes. Following the thousand-year history contained in soldiers’ pay envelopes reveals the vast historical currents of our country.

A pay envelope that was an entire village? (Three Kingdoms & Goryeo Period)

Rewards for Silla generals: Nok-eup (land stipend) and Sik-eup (rice stipend)

If you were a brave general in the Silla kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, what would you have received as a reward for victory? More valuable than gold or jewels was the ‘Nok-eup (land stipend)’.

Nok-eup was a system where the king granted nobles or generals who achieved merit the right to govern specific lands and their people. They could collect taxes, mobilize labor, and claim local specialties. It was like receiving an entire company as salary instead of money. Because of its immense power, it sometimes threatened royal authority.

• Nok-eup (祿邑): Rights to collect taxes, tributes, and labor from a specific region.
• Sik-eup (食邑): Similar to Nok-eup but inheritable by descendants. The highest reward given only to those with extraordinary merit, like General Kim Yu-shin.

In early states, soldier compensation was not a simple salary but the very source of power and wealth.

Heritable property for professional soldiers in Goryeo: Guninjeon (military land)

In the Goryeo period, the soldier salary system became more structured. Professional soldiers in the central army were granted land called ‘Guninjeon (軍人田)’.

Guninjeon was land given by the state in exchange for military service and allowed to be inherited. Soldiers’ sons were required to serve in the military and inherited this economic base. They owned about 90,000 pyeong (approx. 297,000 m²) of land, forming a warrior class and medium-sized landowners, serving as the core of the state’s military power rather than mere foot soldiers.

Ironically, the Guninjeon system, created to protect the state, eventually became a threat to the dynasty. Soldiers who achieved economic independence through land resented discrimination by civil officials and led the ‘Military Coup’ to seize power.

Salaries paid in rice and cloth (Joseon Dynasty)

Having experienced the problems caused by land-owning powers in late Goryeo, Joseon generally did not grant land to soldiers. Instead, after the Japanese invasions, recognizing the need for professional standing armies, it established the first ‘salary system’ standing army called the ‘Hunryeondogam’. From this point, soldiers began to change from land-owning power holders to ’employees’ paid from the national treasury.

• Hunryeondogam infantry salary: 4 mal (斗) of rice monthly + annual bonus of 9 pieces of cotton cloth

Joseon late-period Hunryeondogam soldier salary details

| Currency value at the time (monthly): approx. 2 nyang (兩) | | Modern equivalent (monthly): approx. 150,000 KRW | | Purchasing power analysis: Enough to cover minimum family food needs but much less than a servant’s monthly wage (~7 nyang). |

Though not a large amount, this marked an important historical turning point where the state directly employed and controlled soldiers.

The Imo Incident sparked by sacks of rice

What happens if the state fails to pay even the promised salary? In 1882, Joseon painfully learned the answer. Old-style soldiers, heavily discriminated against compared to the new ‘Byeolgigun’ troops, were unpaid for 13 months.

After a long wait, the sacks contained more sand and chaff than rice grains. Soldiers’ protests against corrupt officials were met with beatings, igniting the ‘Imo Incident (壬午軍亂)’. This was not just a riot but a symbolic event showing how society collapses when the most basic state promise of soldier pay breaks down, representing resistance against an incompetent and corrupt government.

Those who fought for the homeland, not salary (Independence Army)

During Japanese colonial rule, there was no government to pay soldiers. Independence fighters sacrificed everything driven by the single belief of reclaiming their lost country, not money.

Their ‘salary’ was support funds collected bit by bit from compatriots in Manchuria, Primorsky Krai, and the U.S., and ‘independence bonds’ issued by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. A handful of corn, worn uniforms, and the hope of national independence were their only rewards. This was the most unique period in our history when the pay system shifted from state to people, and from material compensation to ideological conviction.

From cigarette money to living wages (Republic of Korea Armed Forces)

After liberation, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces’ pay was so poor it was called ‘patriotic pay.’ In the 1970s, a sergeant’s monthly salary was 900 won, enough for nine bowls of jajangmyeon (black bean noodles). Soldier pay rose slowly for decades but has recently undergone rapid changes.

This reflects a societal shift from viewing military service as mere sacrifice to recognizing it as a rightful compensation for the time of youth, combined with South Korea’s economic growth.

Sergeant salaries and jajangmyeon: Soldier pay evolution in purchasing power

From buying nine bowls of jajangmyeon with a month’s salary in the 1970s to over 240 bowls in 2025, this table shows not just numerical change but how dramatically the state’s attitude toward soldiers has evolved.

Conclusion

The evolution of soldier salaries is a condensed history of the Republic of Korea. From this, we learn several key points:

• Forms of compensation reflect the era: Soldier rewards evolved from land (power) to goods (livelihood) to cash (fair compensation), mirroring the political, economic, and social values of each period.
• Treatment is a measure of national strength and awareness: How a country values the dedication of its young defenders is a crucial indicator of its national power and social maturity.
• Fair compensation is the foundation of national security: As the Imo Incident teaches, when the state’s basic promises and fair treatment of soldiers collapse, national security can be shaken.

Behind the figure of 2 million won lie land, rice, and the sweat, tears, and hopes of countless people. Remembering the dedication of soldiers behind our peace and maintaining social interest in their rightful treatment is the hallmark of a healthy society.