Anyone who passes the Grade 9 civil service exam looks up the same number first: "Step 1 base pay, 2,133,000 won." Then the first paycheck arrives showing a different figure, and plenty of new hires are caught off guard. The number on the pay scale is only the base salary -- what actually lands in your account is that base plus several allowances, minus deductions. Here's what gets added and subtracted, as of 2026.

The 2026 Step-1 Grade 9 Base Salary Is 2,133,000 Won

The 2026 base salary for a Step-1 general-service Grade 9 civil servant is 2,133,000 won per month. Overall civil servant pay rose 3.5% from the previous year, and an additional 3.1% was added for early-career Grade 7-9 staff, for a combined 6.6% increase. This figure comes from the pay scale set out in the Civil Servant Remuneration Regulation, and it climbs automatically each year as your step advances. But 2,133,000 won is a pre-tax base figure only -- what actually reaches your account is this base plus various allowances, minus the four major social insurance premiums and taxes.

Fixed Monthly Allowances -- Meal Allowance and Position Allowance

Beyond base pay, some allowances are added every month as a fixed amount. The flat-rate meal allowance is now 160,000 won a month, up from before, and a position allowance is added on top based on your rank. Both are paid every month regardless of performance or length of service, so your base pay of 2,133,000 won plus these two allowances forms the basic pre-tax total most months. Allowances tied to job series or duty station -- hazard pay, special-duty pay -- can be added separately on top of this.

The Diligence Allowance Now Covers Your First Year Too

The diligence allowance used to exclude new hires with less than one year of service entirely. Under a recent policy change, employees with under a year of service can now receive 10% of their monthly base pay as a diligence allowance. If you assumed you wouldn't see this allowance until your second year, this is worth double-checking -- even a first-year hire now gets a smaller but real diligence allowance from day one. The payout rate then steps up further as your service reaches one year, two years, and beyond.

The Holiday Bonus -- 60% of Base Pay for Chuseok

Chuseok falls on September 25 in 2026. Korea's civil-service holiday bonus rule pays 60% of your current monthly base salary within 15 days before or after the holiday. Since 60% is paid for both Lunar New Year and Chuseok, the annual total works out to 120% of one month's base pay across the two holidays. For a Step-1 Grade 9 employee, that means 60% of the 2,133,000 won base -- paid separately around this Chuseok -- which is why a new hire's pay stub around this time of year shows a noticeably larger deposit than usual.

What Gets Deducted -- Taxes and Social Insurance

From that pre-tax total, public-employee pension contributions, health insurance, long-term care insurance, and income/local income tax are deducted before your actual take-home pay is set. Civil servants are enrolled in the public-employee pension system rather than the National Pension, so even the contribution line item is labeled differently than it would be for a private-sector employee. The exact tax and insurance deductions vary slightly by number of dependents, your step, and your specific agency, so the most reliable way to confirm your real take-home pay is to check the pay stub issued by the agency you're assigned to.

What Changes Every Time Your Step Advances

The pay scale climbs in fixed steps, so base pay itself rises as your years of service increase. The diligence-allowance payout rate also climbs with tenure, so estimating your income a few years out based only on your starting salary will understate what you'll actually earn. If you have prior military service or previous work experience when your starting step is set, that time can be credited toward your step -- so it's worth confirming with your agency's HR office before appointment whether that experience will be converted, so you can accurately predict your first paycheck.

Grade 7, Police, and Firefighters Use Different Tables

The 2,133,000 won figure covered so far applies specifically to Step-1 Grade 9 general-service employees. If you passed the Grade 7 exam, a separate Grade 7 pay table applies with a higher starting base than Grade 9. Police and firefighters, who use a separate rank system, are paid under the public-safety-service pay table, so the amount differs from the general-service table even at the same step number. To confirm the exact pay table for the job series you passed into, start by checking which pay-table number applies to you in the annual Civil Servant Remuneration Regulation schedule published by the Ministry of Personnel Management.

Do You Get the Same Pay During Your Probationary Period?

Even before formal appointment, during the probationary period, base pay on the scale and fixed allowances like the flat-rate meal allowance and position allowance are paid at the same level as a formally appointed civil servant. That said, during probation your work performance and training results are evaluated together, and poor performance during this period can lead to dismissal before formal appointment -- a separate issue from pay. Contrary to the assumption that "probation means lower pay," the pay itself follows the same standard as a fully appointed employee.

Related Reading

National and local civil-service tracks differ not just in which agency appoints you, but also in residency requirements and exam conditions, which matter from the application stage onward. If you've just been appointed, it's worth reviewing how performance is managed during the probationary period in advance, and if you're weighing a non-exam path into the civil service, the regional-talent Grade 9 recruitment program works on a different track from the standard written exam.

Steps in Order

1. Check the base pay for your job series and step in the Ministry of Personnel Management's annual pay-scale schedule.
2. Add fixed monthly allowances such as the flat-rate meal allowance and position allowance.
3. Confirm whether the diligence allowance (10% of monthly base pay) applies even with under a year of service.
4. Around a holiday, factor in the separate holiday bonus (60% of base pay).
5. Confirm your true take-home pay -- after pension contributions, health insurance, and tax deductions -- through your agency's pay stub.

The exact amounts and payout rates for the pay scale and various allowances change under the Civil Servant Remuneration Regulation and the Civil Servant Allowance Regulation, both revised annually. Confirm your exact take-home pay with the HR/payroll office of the agency you're appointed to.