A repatriation ceremony is held for the remains of a Korean independence activist at Seoul National Cemetery in Seoul, April 22. Yonhap
The government plans to expand eligibility for a compensation scheme for descendants of Korean independence fighters during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, the veterans ministry said Wednesday.
The revised Act on the Honorable Treatment of Persons of Distinguished Service to Independence calls for providing regular compensation payments to second-generation descendants, regardless of when their forebears died, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.
Since 1973, the law has allowed payments only to the spouses and children of independence heroes and to only one grandchild if the independence fighter died before the country's liberation on Aug. 15, 1945.
In cases where first-generation descendants are no longer alive, compensation is limited to direct descendants.
The revised law will remove those eligibility restrictions. If implemented, more than 2,300 descendants are expected to be added to the list of eligible recipients, the ministry said.
The revised act was approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day. It will be promulgated before the end of this month and come into force Jan. 1, 2027.
The revision reflects the government's commitment to fulfilling its responsibility for the descendants, Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul said in a release.
Source: Korea Times News
