Progressive Party National Assembly Candidates Urge Compensation for Military Airport Noise Damage

Progressive Party candidates Jeong Hee-seong (Gwangsan Gap) and Kang Seung-cheol (Seo-gu Gap) held a press conference on the 15th at the Gwangju Metropolitan Council, urging improvements to the scope and standards of compensation for noise damage from military airports.

Candidate Jeong emphasized, "Even now, the nationwide noise damage standards and compensation must be revised to ensure fairness, and the scope of compensation standards must be expanded."

He stated, "This is the minimum compensation for residents suffering extreme noise damage due to national defense," and has proposed "expanding the scope of compensation for military airport noise damage" as an election pledge for this general election.

Candidate Kang pointed out, "The government must not ignore the suffering and damage of residents, self-employed individuals, and workers caused by fighter jet noise damage."

Kang added, "Based on the experience of leading the fight to win against military airport noise damage, I will stand at the forefront of legal revisions to expand the standards and compensation for military airport noise damage."

The press conference was moderated by Seo-gu Councilor Kim Tae-jin, who has consistently engaged in legislative activities to ensure that workers in noise-affected areas receive compensation.

Previously, the Progressive Party has fought for compensation for military airport noise damage since 2004 by forming a countermeasure committee with residents. They demanded that compensation be provided not only to residents suffering from military airport noise but also to self-employed individuals and workers.

Until now, the government’s position has been that "it is not recognized that workers suffer noise damage during working hours, and due to differences in the legal interests of freedom of occupation and protection of residential tranquility, it is difficult to acknowledge liability for damages to workers unlike residents."

As a result, despite suffering noise damage beyond the normal tolerance level in social life, self-employed individuals and workers have been excluded from compensation.

However, the Gwangju District Court recently ruled that the state must pay a total of approximately 140 million KRW in damages in a noise damage lawsuit filed by workers near an Air Force base.

This is the first case recognizing compensation for aircraft noise damage for workers around military airports.

The "Military Noise Compensation Act" applies a noise measurement standard of 85 WECPNL (Weighted Equivalent Continuous Perceived Noise Level: an aircraft noise evaluation unit) or higher for damage compensation.

This falls far short of the 75 WECPNL standard for civilian aircraft damage compensation (Airport Noise Prevention Act). Moreover, the standards vary by city, lacking rationality and fairness.

The compensation amounts are also limited to a maximum of 30,000 KRW per month for Type 3 (85 to less than 90 WECPNL), 45,000 KRW per month for Type 2 (90 to less than 95 WECPNL), and 60,000 KRW per month for Type 1 (95 WECPNL or higher).

Currently, the damage area standards and compensation are based on the 1998 criteria, which has been criticized as a forced form of compensation for residents in noise-affected areas.

Shin Dong-ho, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy, bless4ya@asiae.co.kr

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