Then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, second from left, walks toward the reviewing stand with retired Staff Sgt. Ha Jae-heon, left, during a military parade marking the 76th Armed Forces Day in the Gwanghwamun area of central Seoul on Oct. 1, 2024.PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE
Shin Sung-sik
The author is a welfare specialist reporter at the JoongAng Ilbo.
Retired Staff Sgt. Ha Jae-heon, who lost both legs in a North Korean wooden-box land mine attack in 2015, participated as a citizen representative in Seoul’s New Year bell-ringing ceremony at Bosingak in January.
“I rang the bell hoping soldiers would complete their service safely without suffering injuries like mine,” he told the Seoul Shinmun.
His wish went unfulfilled. Three soldiers from the Army’s 25th Division were injured by another North Korean mine.
Ha has repeatedly called for a society that respects those in uniform. Yet he experienced firsthand how difficult securing recognition can be.
In 2019, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs initially classified his injuries as service-related rather than combat-related. Public outrage followed, including accusations that authorities were accommodating North Korea. The classification was eventually changed. “Soldiers live on honor,” Ha said.
The incident exposed an absurdity: Soldiers hospitalized at civilian facilities receive nursing care subsidies, while those in military hospitals do not. Decisions concerning disability pensions, compensation and national merit status still lie ahead.
The experience of Master Chief Petty Officer Jeon Chang-seong, a veteran of the 2002 Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, offers a warning.
“I feel deeply betrayed by my country. I am fighting the state,” Jeon said by telephone on Monday.
During the naval battle, shrapnel shattered his left shoulder. He cannot turn a steering wheel using only his left hand or lift a drinking glass toward his mouth.
He relies on sleeping pills and antianxiety medication. While serving aboard naval vessels, cannon fire triggered severe anxiety. Even today, he dreams of blood covering the deck and fallen comrades.
He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, but never received rehabilitation or PTSD treatment through the military. Instead, he sought help independently from neighborhood orthopedic clinics and traditional Korean medicine practitioners. He first visited a psychiatrist two years ago.
His struggle with the government began after his discharge in June last year.
Military disability pensions provide support for service members injured under qualifying circumstances. Yet the Ministry of National Defense rejected both his shoulder injury and PTSD claims, citing insufficient restrictions on movement and relatively mild symptoms. The veterans ministry recognized only his PTSD when assessing his eligibility for national merit status.
“Even if I receive a disability pension, it would exceed my retirement pension by only 300,000 to 400,000 won,” Jeon said. Recognition of his shoulder injury would not increase his veterans benefits either.
“Honor matters more. That is why I fight the state.”
At a seminar hosted in December of last year by People Power Party Reps. Bae Hyun-jin and Yu Yong-weon, veterans Kim Jun-hee and Seon Jeong-oh of the 1999 First Battle of Yeonpyeong described suffering from delayed-onset PTSD.
They protested its exclusion from combat-related or special-duty injury recognition, leaving them without veterans' pensions.
Fifteen soldiers involved in the latest 25th Division operation were discharged from the hospital immediately. Were they properly assessed for PTSD?
Ahn Jong-min, an administrative specialist in veterans affairs, stresses the importance of recognizing possible PTSD in the two injured soldiers besides the battalion commander.
Military disability pensions pay between 32.5 and 52 percent of standard monthly income, rates unchanged for over two decades. Officers injured during ordinary service receive no disability compensation.
Over the past five years, 22 percent of military deaths recognized as duty-related by the Defense Ministry were rejected by the Veterans Ministry.
Military personnel also face difficulties preparing for retirement. Their pensions are often their only reliable safeguard.
The National Assembly Budget Office noted in July that military service places lives at risk and requires state compensation.
The United States, Britain and Germany fully fund military pension contributions, while Korean soldiers pay half. Korea’s pension replacement rates are 10 to 22 percentage points lower.
Ahn, the administrative specialist, proposes allowing the three injured soldiers to continue serving and granting special promotions to personnel undertaking dangerous operations.
Why must soldiers who fought the enemy also fight their own country?
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
