(Seoul = News1) Reporter Shin Yoon-ha = It has been determined by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) that the law should be amended to ensure that military officers who are discharged due to general disabilities incurred from service receive appropriate disability compensation, even if they do not qualify for an injury pension.
On the 24th, according to the NHRCK, the commission recommended to the Minister of National Defense on the 21st to pursue amendments to the Military Accident Compensation Act.
Officer A, a military officer who was diagnosed with epilepsy during service and retired due to illness, did not receive military group accident insurance benefits or injury pensions and disability compensation under the Military Accident Compensation Act.
The injury pension is provided to career soldiers who retire due to physical and mental disabilities from service-related injuries or diseases. Ordinary public officials can receive disability pensions even for disability grades 8-14, in addition to retirement pensions. In contrast, military personnel can only receive an injury pension for disability grades 1-7 and cannot collect both retirement pension and injury pension simultaneously.
Officer A filed a complaint with the NHRCK, claiming it is discriminatory and a violation of human rights to exclude officers from receiving disability compensation, while enlisted soldiers with general disabilities are eligible.
The Ministry of National Defense explained that when the Military Accident Compensation Act was established, officers were excluded from receiving disability compensation for general disabilities, and compensation is provided only for disabilities resulting from war injuries or special duties. Therefore, according to the Ministry, the complainant is not eligible for the compensation. Additionally, epilepsy is also not covered under the military group accident insurance policy.
The Military Human Rights Protection Committee of the NHRCK dismissed the complaint, citing that it arose from legislation by the National Assembly and thus does not fall under their investigative remit.
However, the committee pointed out that Article 33, Paragraph 2 of the current Military Accident Compensation Act completely excludes military officers with general disabilities from compensation. Most military officers cannot receive an injury pension or compensation through group accident insurance.
This situation is considered discriminatory against military officers without reasonable justification and a failure by the state to fulfill its minimum compensation obligations, potentially violating the constitutional rights to equality and state compensation claims, according to the NHRCK’s findings.
Over the past five years, an annual average of 365.8 military officers (98.2%) have incurred general disabilities, significantly higher than the 6.6 individuals (1.8%) with war injuries or special duty-related injuries.