"Paying the Price for Noise from the Skies"... Yecheon County Finalizes 1.77 Billion Won in Military Noise Compensation

5,335 Compensation Claims Reviewed for Residents Near the Airfield
Objection Applications Accepted Until the End of July

Yecheon County in North Gyeongsang Province has launched the full-scale process for providing compensation payments to residents living near the Yecheon Airfield who have suffered from military aircraft noise.

As institutional compensation for residents who have endured long-term, repeated aircraft noise and related inconveniences becomes a reality, local interest in the issue is growing.

Yecheon County Office Building
Photo by Byunggun Kwon

On May 19, Yecheon County announced that it had convened the "2026 1st Yecheon County Regional Noise Countermeasure Review Committee" at the county office, completed the review of 5,335 military noise compensation claims, and approved a total compensation payment of 1.77 billion won.

This review was carried out in accordance with the Military Noise Compensation Act. After determining the basic compensation based on the noise standards for each region, the final recipients and amounts were confirmed by comprehensively factoring in deduction criteria such as the time of residency, location of actual workplace, duration of military service, and periods of overseas stay.

Each individual can check their compensation amount through a notification letter that will be sent by mail at the end of this month.

Residents who wish to appeal the compensation results may submit an objection form along with supporting documents to the Environmental Management Team of the Environmental Management Division at Yecheon County Office by July 30.

The county plans to conduct a re-examination of the submitted appeals and make a final decision. If there are no additional objections, compensation payments are scheduled to be made by the end of August.

Yecheon County has focused its administrative efforts on establishing a practical compensation system, recognizing that aircraft noise damage suffered by residents around military airports and airfields has escalated beyond mere inconvenience to issues affecting health and property rights.

Particularly, as residents continue to voice demands regarding the scope of eligible areas and criteria for deductions, the need for institutional improvements is being raised alongside these requests.

Hwang Okhee, head of the Environmental Management Division at Yecheon County, said, "We are working to ensure that just compensation is provided by reflecting, as much as possible, the positions of residents who have suffered from military noise for an extended period. We will continue to recommend to the Ministry of National Defense the expansion of eligible areas and revisions to deduction criteria to establish a more practical compensation system."

Both inside and outside the county, the compensation payments are being evaluated as more than just financial support; they are seen as an institutional acknowledgment of the state's responsibility for damage caused by military noise.

However, there are continued calls for more fundamental policy measures, such as expanding the scope of compensation and implementing noise mitigation strategies, to ensure that residents feel the benefits more tangibly.

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