War indemnity raised by 7-fold for fatalities

Family members of Korean servicemen killed in action abroad will be entitled to at least 220 million won ($183,333) in compensation, in addition to the monthly pension of 642,000 won under a revised regulation, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The rule will come into immediate effect today.
Families of the four staff sergeants who were killed in action during the naval clash with North Korea in June 2002 each received about 30 million won, in addition to their monthly pensions. After the incident, criticism mounted that the government compensation was too small.
In response, the ministry raised the lump-sum compensation to 170 million won, and added 50 million won as an overseas stationing compensation for the servicemen killed in action abroad regardless of their rank.