Measures to Punish 'Damage to National Cemetery' Will Be Established

by Yang Nakgyu

Published 28 May.2021 13:46(KST)

April 19 National Cemetery

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs plans to establish measures to punish acts such as holding assemblies or demonstrations at national cemeteries or damaging graves. They will also build a system that allows recipients to receive veterans' allowances provided by local governments without a separate application.

On the 28th, to mark the June Month of Patriots and Veterans, the Ministry announced an institutional innovation plan containing these details, stating, "We plan to prepare measures to sanction acts that may harm the honor of national cemeteries, such as assemblies and demonstrations within the cemetery grounds and damage to graves."

This is interpreted as a response to sporadic protests by some civic groups near the grave of the late General Baek Seon-yeop located within Daejeon National Cemetery, urging for reburial.

In fact, such assemblies and demonstrations at national cemeteries nationwide, including Hyeonchungwon and Hogukwon, reportedly occur about 80 times annually. The current National Cemetery Establishment Act prohibits dancing, entertainment, and other acts that may harm the dignity of national cemeteries within the grounds, but there are no separate punishment provisions.

The Ministry also plans to develop a system to share information on national veterans with local governments by next month, pilot it in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, and expand it nationwide by the end of this year.

Until now, veterans had to apply directly to receive various veterans' allowances provided by local governments, but the Ministry explained that going forward, veterans will be able to receive these allowances without a separate application through linkage with the veterans information system.

Furthermore, by the first half of next year, the Ministry will disclose public records such as combat records and medal awards of approximately 460,000 national cemetery interred veterans on the national cemetery website. To make it easier to locate graves, they also plan to build a digital grave guidance system that integrates the currently separately operated National Cemetery Interment Information Systems of Hyeonchungwon and Hogukwon.

㏊To resolve the inconvenience of long waits for physical examinations required for national veterans registration, the Ministry plans to convert the current bi-monthly physical examinations for veterans into a regular examination system by next year.

To this end, they will significantly expand the number of dedicated doctors for physical examinations at veterans hospitals and allow physical examinations to be conducted not only at veterans hospitals but also at national and public general hospitals.

The Ministry expects that the current registration period for national veterans, which is about 330 days, will be shortened to approximately 210 days by next year.

In addition, the Ministry added that it plans to devise various efforts to strengthen the management and supervision of profit-making businesses of veterans organizations.