Doctors in South Korea earned an average of 285.18 million won ($199,000) a year, the highest among all health care occupations, according to government data released on the 4th. Separately, data on Supreme Court justices showed they received roughly 200 million won a year once salary, special duty allowances and incentive payments were combined.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare released the findings of its second survey on the health and medical workforce, covering the activities and pay of about 2.32 million people across 20 occupations. As of 2023, average annual pay was 285.18 million won for doctors, 202.77 million won for dentists, 103.68 million won for doctors of Korean medicine, 84.26 million won for pharmacists and 51.95 million won for nurses.
Among doctors, those working at hospitals earned the most at an average of 354.27 million won a year, followed by 325.99 million won at clinics, 251.45 million won at general hospitals and 199.76 million won at tertiary general hospitals.
Average pay for health care workers at medical institutions rose across all occupations over the 10 years from 2013 to 2023. The average annual growth rate was 5.6% for doctors, 3.5% for nurses, 3.1% for dentists, 2.7% for pharmacists and 0.6% for doctors of Korean medicine.
Meanwhile, data that Rep. Kim Yong-min of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, obtained from the Supreme Court showed that a justice's annual salary was 111.52 million won last year, or 9.293 million won a month. Special duty allowances and incentive payments are provided separately. The special duty allowance has been set at 61.44 million won a year, or 5.12 million won a month, for each of the past five years. On top of that, incentive payments of about 24 million won a year, or 2 million won a month, were paid. That brought the total to about 197 million won last year.
"Since justices who receive more than 200 million won a year are also given separate allowances such as special duty expenses, the way that money is spent must be transparent," Kim said. "We cannot forgo oversight and verification in the name of judicial independence."
