[Editorial] Pay level at issue

According to a survey conducted shortly after the 19th National Assembly was launched in late June, two in three respondents favored the idea of cutting the pay for lawmakers.

What those favoring a pay cut were saying was that lawmakers were underperforming. They had apparently been nursing a grudge against their representatives who had frequently boycotted legislative sessions, used violence on the floor and demonstrated their incompetence in other ways.

The pay level is at issue again, this time following the disclosure that members of the 19th National Assembly are paid 20 percent more than those of the previous legislature. The pay raise had not been made public until Rep. Lee Han-koo, floor leader of the governing Saenuri Party, recently called on his fellow lawmakers to raise their productivity to the level commensurate with a 20 percent pay increase.

The National Assembly raised the pay 5 percent in 2011 and another 16 percent this year. As a consequence, lawmakers are now paid 137,960,000 won each year, 20 percent more than the average pay for members of the previous legislature. The increase of 23,260,000 won could pay the salary of an entry level position for a college graduate at a medium-sized corporation.

The pay increase was ill-advised at least for two reasons: It was made behind the scenes and much higher than the baseline.

In late 2010, the speaker agreed with the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to raise the pay on two occasions ― 5 percent in 2011 and another 16 percent this year. They kept their accord under the wraps. And the increase was much higher than the benchmark ― a 3.5 percent increase for government employees.

Also infuriating was the insensitivity of lawmakers, who paid little attention to the worsening economic conditions in and outside of the nation. The National Assembly came up with a 16 percent rise when the Japanese Diet and some other foreign legislatures cut or froze the pay of their members.

The pay increase was yet another indication of lawmakers’ duplicity. A bill to cut the pay by 10 percent has been shelved since it was submitted in February. No action was taken although the talk of “no work, no pay” often followed the closure of legislative sessions.

Public confidence will not be restored until the legislature rolls back the pay increase and makes good on its promises.