"High School Student Who Died Saving Friend from Drowning, Denial of Burial in National Cemetery Is Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The family of a high school student who was recognized as a person of merit after dying together while trying to save a friend who fell into the water filed a lawsuit challenging the refusal to be buried in the National Cemetery, but the lawsuit was dismissed.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 5 (Chief Judge Sangkyu Jeong) ruled against the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by the family of Mr. A against the Director of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to cancel the refusal to be buried in the National Cemetery. The court stated, "It is difficult to see that the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs abused or exceeded its discretion in refusing burial in the National Cemetery," and added, "Although Mr. A died while saving another person's life, it was judged that his spirit of sacrifice and courage did not reach a level appropriate for permanent respect and social role model status by being buried in the National Cemetery."

In July 1994, Mr. A (then 17 years old) went on a summer outing with five friends to the Gumadong Valley in Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongbuk Province. While playing in the water, he died together with a friend who was struggling to swim. The Ministry of Health and Welfare recognized Mr. A as a person of merit in 2005. The family applied for Mr. A to be buried in the National Cemetery in July 2019, but the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs refused. When the family’s administrative appeal with the same content was dismissed by the Central Administrative Appeals Commission in September of the same year, they filed a lawsuit.

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