Assembly members' chuseok holiday bonus reaches W4.4m, topping average worker's monthly pay

Each National Assembly member will receive about 4.4 million won ($3,240) as a chuseok holiday bonus this year — more than 650,000 won above the average monthly income of salaried workers.

According to the National Assembly Secretariat's guidelines on Assembly member allowances, the total annual holiday bonus per member is set at 8.79 million won this year.

The chuseok portion amounts to 4.4 million won, or half the annual figure. The holiday bonus is calculated at 60 percent of the monthly general allowance — 7.33 million won — paid separately for the Lunar New Year and chuseok holidays.

Assembly members' annual salary this year stands at about 160.93 million won, up 4.03 million won from last year, pushing the annual holiday bonus up by about 300,000 won as well.

The figures far exceed the income levels of ordinary workers.

Compared with the average monthly wage of 3.75 million won recorded by the Ministry of Statistics, the holiday bonus a lawmaker receives for a single holiday is about 650,000 won more than a salaried worker earns in an entire month.

The contrast is sharper given that roughly half of all salaried workers receive no chuseok bonus at all, even as lawmakers collect payouts worth several million won.

A survey by the Korea Federation of SMEs conducted over one week from Sept. 1 covering 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises found that only 45.1 percent had confirmed they would pay a chuseok bonus. Among those offering a fixed-amount bonus, the average payout per employee was 665,000 won.

A separate survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation found that 61.0 percent of companies with five or more employees planned to pay a chuseok bonus.

That was down 2.0 percentage points from 63.0 percent last year. Among companies not paying a bonus, 47.4 percent cited insufficient capacity to pay due to deteriorating business conditions.

Meanwhile, controversy over the independence and transparency of Assembly members' pay-setting process persists, as lawmakers in effect determine their own salaries. Members in detention continue to receive allowances and holiday bonuses — excluding special activity funds — and bills to restrict such payments have been introduced multiple times but have ultimately failed to pass.

Still, some lawmakers, embarrassed by holiday bonuses seen as out of step with public sentiment, have donated the full amount for both the Lunar New Year and chuseok holidays this year, as they did last year.

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Mi-ae donated her full 4.4 million won chuseok bonus — as she did at the Lunar New Year — through the Community Chest of Korea to a crisis pregnancy support center, a single-mother facility and a childcare center for children with disabilities.

"There are many people who struggle to even receive a monthly paycheck, let alone a holiday bonus, so I feel I should share this money," Kim said. "Politicians must give people hope, and that requires earning their trust."