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SBS fact check team verifies and delivers the election promises. Last time, we looked at Candidate Jae-myung Lee's pledge to apply for hair loss insurance, and today (13th), we will look at candidate Yoon Seok-yeol's promise of 2 million won per month for a soldier.



Correspondent Lee Kyung-won.



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Other candidates have also talked about raising soldiers' salaries, but Yoon is the most active.



As soon as he came to power, he promised to raise 2 million won.



It would have a huge impact on the finances right away, but candidate Yoon said that it would cost about 5.1 trillion won and that it could be financed by restructuring the expenditure.



[Yoon Seok-yeol / People's Power Presidential Candidate (last 9th): Our soldiers are also fulfilling their duty of national defense through their dedication and sacrifice when they are young... .]



Last year's budget for a soldier's salary was 2.2 trillion won.



In fact, based on the soldiers received by the team from the Ministry of National Defense in early January, we calculated the budget for the soldiers to receive when they receive 2 million won.



Annually, 7.5 trillion won, additional finance is 5.3 trillion won.



It is very similar to the words of Candidate Yoon.



However, this year, the basic salary of the first sergeant is about 1.7 million won.



If you include the allowance, you will receive much more, but it is against the seniority of civil servants that the basic salary of sergeants is lower than that of soldiers.



Although it is unlikely in reality, let's look at a case where sergeants will also raise their salaries in line with the increase in soldiers.



Assuming that the first sergeant pays 2 million won, it rises like sergeant, sergeant, sergeant, sergeant, and domino, and then the overall salary rises by 19%.



Last year, the budget for such executives, including military personnel, was 12.5 trillion won.



Candidate Yoon said that he would come up with a budget by reducing other expenses, but the defense budget has already been cut by 600 billion won, the largest among all ministries, and there doesn't seem to be much room to cut costs further.



Improving the treatment of soldiers is an urgent issue.



Patriotic Pay, cannot be forced.



However, rather than raising the expectations of the soldiers, it is the conclusion of our team that a detailed analysis of the national finances should be done first.



(Video editing: Lee Seung-jin, CG: Ahn Ji-hyun)