Soldier's Son Recognized as Fallen After 25 Years... Court Rules "No Retroactive Survivor Benefits"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court ruling has determined that survivor benefits for families of soldiers recognized as having died in the line of duty decades later should be paid based on the time of application for registration as a veteran beneficiary, not the time of death.

According to the legal community on the 7th, Judge Choi Gi-won of the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 10, recently ruled against plaintiff A in the first trial of a damages lawsuit filed against the state.

Previously, A's son enlisted in the Air Force in 1991 but, after suffering from harsh treatment within the military, took his own life in May of the following year. At that time, the military classified A's son as an "other non-service-related casualty" (someone who died unrelated to official duties).

Since 2006, A had requested the Military Investigation Commission, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the Seoul Regional Veterans Office, and the Ministry of National Defense Investigation Headquarters to recognize his son's death as in the line of duty, but these requests were denied. Then, in April 2017, the Ministry of National Defense Central Military Casualty Review Committee recognized the death as in the line of duty, stating that "the deceased's death is significantly related to official duties."

However, the Seoul Regional Veterans Office began paying survivor benefits from June 2017, the month when A applied for registration as a veteran beneficiary, in accordance with the Veterans Benefits Act. The Veterans Benefits Act stipulates that "the right to receive benefits arises from the month in which the application for registration as a beneficiary is made." A filed a lawsuit arguing that survivor benefits should be recalculated based on June 1992, the month of his son's death.

A's side demanded payment of survivor benefits amounting to 163.72 million KRW calculated from the date of death plus delayed damages, and compensation of 48.8 million KRW for damages due to negligence by public officials. They also claimed that the relevant legal provisions were unconstitutional, arguing that "unlike cases where death was immediately recognized as in the line of duty and the family was promptly registered as veteran beneficiaries, they have been discriminated against without reasonable grounds."

The first trial ruled that the Veterans Office's decision was justified. The court stated, "The specific content of compensation to be paid to veteran beneficiaries must inevitably be determined according to the state's financial capacity and the overall level of social security," and "It is difficult to view the fact that the decision differs from previous rulings as a violation of objective duty of care by public officials that would undermine objective legitimacy."

The court also rejected A's claim that the legal provisions were unconstitutional. It added, "The difference in timing when the survivor's registration application is accepted depends on the decision of the Director of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and is unrelated to the legal provisions," and "The legal provisions cannot be seen as unfairly discriminatory."

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