Constitutional Court Rules Unpaid Military Training for Public Legal Officers Unconstitutional

Violation of the Right to Equality Recognized

The Constitutional Court has ruled that Article 2, Paragraph 1 of the Military Personnel Remuneration Act, which stipulates that public legal officers are not paid during their call-up period for military training, is unconstitutional.

Constitutional Court of Korea, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News

On July 23 at 2 PM, the Constitutional Court delivered a unanimous verdict of unconstitutionality in a constitutional challenge brought by Attorney A, a public legal officer, and others. The decision was announced at the Constitutional Court’s Grand Chamber in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The Court stated, “Active-duty soldiers, social service agents, and public legal officers all share the same status as military personnel and undergo similar military education and training. Therefore, exempting only public legal officers from receiving remuneration during their call-up period for military training constitutes unjustified discrimination and violates the petitioners’ right to equality.”

The Court further explained, “Remuneration during military training is intended as a policy measure to improve conditions and enable compulsory service members to focus on fulfilling their duties. Paying other military service members who undergo similar training while denying any payment to public legal officers is based solely on fiscal savings considerations. This clearly exceeds the legislative discretion permitted by the Constitution.”

This case arose due to a clause in the Military Personnel Remuneration Act that excludes 'those called up for military training' from the scope of remuneration. While active-duty soldiers receive remuneration from their date of enlistment and social service agents from their date of call-up, public legal officers, under the relevant provision, must undergo military training without pay during that period.

The petitioners argued, “It is unfair to deny remuneration to public legal officers, even though they undergo the same military training as active-duty soldiers and others. Moreover, the training period is not even counted toward their service period, so not paying them during this time amounts to double discrimination.” On this basis, they filed a complaint for constitutional review.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.