Court Rules "Exclusion of Drunk Driving Hit-and-Run National Merit Recipients from National Cemetery Burial Is Lawful"

4.19 National Cemetery

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court ruling has determined that it is reasonable to exclude national merit recipients from being eligible for burial in a national cemetery if they have a prior record of punishment for a drunk driving hit-and-run accident.

According to the legal community on the 5th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 8 (Chief Judge Jonghwan Lee) ruled against national merit recipient Mr. A in a lawsuit he filed against the director of the National 4·19 Democratic Cemetery Management Office, seeking to cancel the decision that he was ineligible for burial in the national cemetery. The court stated, "At the time of the drunk driving accident, Mr. A's blood alcohol concentration was 0.39%, about eight times higher than the legal limit (0.05%) under the Road Traffic Act at that time, and the potential for social and ethical condemnation is considerable. There is no reason to believe that the decision by the review committee, which judged that burying Mr. A in the national cemetery would damage the cemetery's honor, lacked objectivity."

Mr. A was registered as a national merit recipient in 2010 in recognition of his contribution to the April 19 Revolution in 1960 while he was a university student. Last year, he applied for a determination on whether he qualified for burial in the National 4·19 Democratic Cemetery during his lifetime but was notified that he was ineligible. The issue stemmed from a prior drunk driving hit-and-run accident in 1981, for which he was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation. At that time, the National Cemetery Burial Eligibility Review Committee under the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs judged that "burial in the national cemetery could damage its honor."

Mr. A argued, "Although I was sentenced to imprisonment or higher for the drunk driving hit-and-run incident, I have made various efforts to contribute to the development of the nation and society, and have been recognized with various awards including a presidential citation," and claimed that the review committee's decision was an abuse of discretion, filing this lawsuit. However, the court ruled, "Even if the plaintiff has long devoted and sacrificed himself for the nation or society, it is difficult to conclude that the severity of the crime he committed in this case is offset by that."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.