Military Civilian Workers Face Exodus as 7 in 10 Leave Before Retirement

"Military civilian workers see surge in applicants due to equal treatment with civil servants." This was a major headline in Korean media in 2010. However, 16 years later, military civilian worker recruitment now faces chronic shortfalls and early resignations are surging.

As applications for junior military officer positions decline, the workload burden on military civilian workers has increased. Personnel acquisition problems are delaying the replacement of military personnel with civilians in non-combat roles, creating a vicious cycle that ultimately disrupts plans to prevent combat capability losses from standing force reductions.

According to data on "Annual Military Civilian Worker Retirement Status" submitted by the Ministry of National Defense to the office of Rep. Kang Sun-young of the People Power Party on the National Assembly Defense Committee on June 4, 7,258 out of 10,290 total retirees over the past five years (2021-2025) left before retirement age, accounting for 70.6%.

More than 7 out of 10 military civilian workers leaving each year are departing despite guaranteed job security until retirement. Notably, a significant portion of these are new hires within three years of appointment, with calls growing urgent for countermeasures. Over the past five years, 4,229 workers—41.1% of all departures—left within three years of appointment.

The ratio of military civilian workers resigning within three years of appointment increased through 2023 before leveling off: 561 (33.9%) in 2021, 884 (43.8%) in 2022, 1,125 (49.2%) in 2023, 960 (42.8%) in 2024, and 699 (33.6%) in 2025.

These figures are significantly higher compared to 18.9% (243 workers) in 2019 and 28.5% (339 workers) in 2020. Consequently, the annual average of early departures over the past five years reached approximately 1,450, with about 840 leaving within three years of appointment.

As a result, military civilian workforce supply is failing to meet demand. As of the end of 2025, the authorized strength for military civilian workers is 46,512, but actual personnel stands at 44,210 (95.1%), leaving 2,302 positions unfilled.

Over the past five years, military civilian worker recruitment has fallen short by an annual average of approximately 3,200 positions: 91.7% filled (3,363 short) in 2021, 90.7% (4,186 short) in 2022, 92.3% (3,549 short) in 2023, 93.3% (3,093 short) in 2024, and 95.1% (2,302 short) in 2025. This is why observers warn that military civilian personnel supply has reached a critical point.

Despite this situation, the Ministry of National Defense continues to expand military civilian worker quotas and roles based on "Defense Reform 2.0" announced in 2018. The authorized strength has increased from 26,000 in 2017 to approximately 47,000 by 2025.

Rep. Kang Sun-young stated, "While expanding military civilian worker quotas to address military personnel shortages, annual new recruitment is not going smoothly and the number of early departures continues to increase." She added, "It is urgent to establish measures to improve military civilian worker recruitment rates by clarifying their roles and status within the armed forces and accordingly improving personnel and compensation systems."