Honorary Allowance Will Be Provided to Veterans over 70

All the veterans, who participated in the Korean War or the Vietnam War, will receive honorary allowance every month. In addition, the basic pension that is provided to the patriots and veterans or their bereaved will increase by 12 percent, drastically improving the benefits and welfare of the national patriots and veterans.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans announced yesterday that the government will provide a certain amount of honorary allowance to the veterans over 70 from Oct. next year by the revision of the `veterans aid law` to `the patriots and veterans honor law`.

The new policy requires negotiation between the Ministry of Planning and Budget in advance but the allowance seems to be about 50,000 won a month. Currently, the government pays 65,000 won monthly to the 30,000 veterans over 65 with financial difficulties.

The patriots of the Kwangju Democratization Movement, who are newly included in the national patriots and veterans, will benefit from July next year the job opportunity for the injured or the bereaved, the education support until college graduation, privileged medical fee at the Veterans Hospitals, and so on. The registration for the patriots of the Kwangju Democratization Movement is carried out in the local patriots and veterans offices but the financial support will not be provided to them.

In addition, the basic pension for the patriots and veterans or the bereaved will increase by 12 percent from 535,000 won to 600,000 won and the settlement allowance for the overseas patriots and veterans will be raised to 50 million won from current 40 million won.

The Ministry also decided to include the spies, who were dispatched to the North since 1960 and was either injured or killed during their special missions, in the national patriots and veterans from March next year. The Ministry will construct a memorial cemetery of 100,000 pyong in the Capital City area by 2005, in which 50,000 graves of the veterans will be placed.

Dong-Ki Sung esprit@donga.com