"I get compensated even if I get hurt while playing soccer in the military... "It's unfair. Finger amputation while serving. No compensation."

YTN Radio (FM 94.5) [YTN News FM Wise Radio Life]
□ Broadcast Date: November 29, 2024 (Fri)
□ Host: Announcer Park Gui-bin
□ Castor: Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commissioner Ko Kyu-tae, Ministry of National Defense and Veterans Affairs

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

◆ Announcer Park Gui-bin (hereinafter referred to as Park Gui-bin): A wise life white book, Friday is a search for rights that are missed in life with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. Most men in Korea are in the military at a young age. However, if you join the military in good physical health and get injured, sick, and disabled during your military career, the state should help you. Let's listen to the reason why a soldier whose finger was amputated while serving in the military 60 years ago has not been recognized as a veteran, through the Civil Rights Commission's Defense Veterans Civil Service and Officer Ko Kyu-tae. Welcome.

◇ Ko Kyu-tae, Civil Rights Commissioner for Defense Veterans Affairs (hereinafter referred to as Ko Kyu-tae): Hello.

◆Park Guivin: Officer, how can the state help you if you are injured or ill in the military and discharged from the military?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: Yes, those who are severely injured in the military and are permanently disabled or in need of continuous treatment can apply for registration of national merit to the state. If you apply for registration of a person of national merit, you can be registered as a person of national merit or a person eligible for veterans' compensation after screening. Those who were injured during education and training related to the protection of people's life and property in the military, such as guard duty, search and reconnaissance, and guerrilla training, will be divided into those who are injured by simple accidents or diseases among duties not directly related to the protection of people's life and property.

◆Park Gui-bin: I wonder about the procedures for being registered as a person of national merit or a person eligible for veterans' compensation and what are the benefits of being registered?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: If you apply for registration of a person of national merit, the screening process is largely divided into two stages. The first step is to review the requirements, and the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs will receive data related to injuries and disease conditions from military units where the applicant served and military hospitals where he received treatment. Also, check if there were any related injury or disease records before the applicant joined the army. If the applicant's injured disease, military job performance, and education and training are directly or have a significant causal relationship, they will pass the requirement review. The second is the different grade determination stage, which is given different grades according to the severity of the injury disease after a physical examination at the Veterans Hospital, and only when grades 1 to 7 are given, they will be registered as the final national merit. People of national merit or those eligible for veterans' compensation vary depending on the level of difference, but compensation will be provided every month, education support for themselves and their families, employment support such as additional points when hiring, and medical support benefits such as exemption and reduction of treatment costs to veterans hospitals or entrusted hospitals.

◆Park Gui-bin: The process of registering people of national merit is not as simple as I thought. I heard that the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission expressed its opinion for soldiers who were injured in the military 60 years ago, what is the reason?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: Yes, the person who applied for the complaint is 80 years old this year. He joined the Army in 1965 and served in the Transport Department of the Division's Communications Squadron. However, in 1966, while the military was repairing the vehicle, a new soldier accidentally started the vehicle, and his hand entered the vehicle fan and eventually cut off the middle finger of his right hand. In the 1960s, when he was discharged from the military, he did not even dare to say that he was injured in the military because his social perception of the Sangsang military police was not so good. One day, when I saw the news that a man who injured his leg while playing soccer in the military was recognized as a veteran compensation recipient, I took courage to apply. However, from 2017 to this year, you have applied five times, but you have been notified of the decision each time because there is no data to recognize the causal relationship between finger injuries and military service, such as military hospital admission records. This person suffered a finger amputation while serving in the military at a young age and has lived with a painful wound he wants to hide from others all his life, and he filed a grievance complaint saying it was unfair that the state did not help him at all.

◆Park Gui-bin: Just hearing that sounds like a very unfair story. It doesn't seem easy to solve because there is no military internal medical record, how did you solve it?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: When I confronted this person and heard about the accident, I checked the injured finger myself, and I was very hurt. I was wondering if there was any way to help, so I looked at the connection between finger injuries and military service in various ways through records when I was serving and before and after joining the military. First of all, this person was diagnosed with Class A, the highest grade in terms of the current level, in a physical examination before joining the military. When you were serving in the military, you worked on maintaining vehicles and radios that used fingers as important. He also paid attention to the statements of two fellow soldiers that he went to visit when he was injured and admitted to the unit's internal medical unit. Second, this person's health insurance care benefit statement and veterans' review records have not proven that he was injured after discharge because he could not confirm the medical records of surgery for finger amputation injuries or the application for industrial accident care benefits separately. Lastly, if you get a finger amputation in the military now, you will be taken to a large military hospital, but in the 1960s, when he joined the army, he believed that there was a possibility that he actually had a finger amputation in a medical unit rather than a military hospital. According to his medical records, he took an unusual 25 days off immediately after the surgery, and he stated that the troop commanders' attitude toward him has changed since returning to the vacation, and he could not rule out the possibility that the unit commanders were reluctant to inform the outside world of his accident and did not take him to a military hospital. This person couldn't even pass the requirements review because it wasn't proven that he was injured in the military. Given these points, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has expressed its opinion to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to re-examine whether he or she is registered as a national merit.

◆Park Gui-bin: Does it usually take a long time to judge?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: It usually takes less than three months.

◆Park Gui-bin: It's difficult to deal with such complaints, but I think it'll be rewarding. Sir, what do you want to say last?

◇Ko Kyu-tae: From what I've met with people who joined the military to fulfill their military service obligations and were injured and discharged, I've heard a lot that they were disappointed not only with their bodies but also with the country and hurt their hearts. We are looking hard for ways to find various evidence as in the above cases, comprehensively review, and rescue our rights and interests, as well as military internal medical records. I hope that those who have applied for registration of veterans have asked the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission for a lot of help because they have not been recognized. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission will continue to work harder to ensure that those who sacrificed for the country receive reasonable respect. Thank you.

◆Park Gui-bin: Until now, I was Ko Kyu-tae, the Civil Service Officer of the Defense Veterans Affairs Division of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. Thank you.