South Korea Steps Up Efforts to Honor Independence Activists and Support Veterans

SEOUL — South Korea's veterans ministry said Wednesday it will seek to identify more independence activists who have yet to be recognized for their role in achieving the country's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and will award state honors to them, according to Yonhap News.

In a policy briefing to President Lee Jae Myung, the ministry said it plans to award more than 600 independence activists previously not recognized by the state, up from 502 in 2025, the ministry reported.

The government is also pushing to reassess the contributions of independence activists by reviewing newly discovered achievements and granting additional state honors based on the findings, Yonhap reported.

"Given that times have changed, I suggested that it may be necessary to revisit the criteria as well," Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul told a press briefing on Monday, as quoted by Yonhap.

The ministry is reviewing focusing the reassessment on independence activists who were awarded the Order of the President or the Order of Independence before the 1970s, when historical records and relevant research were insufficient, Yonhap said.

There are currently about 18,000 people who have been awarded state honors as independence activists, most of whom were recognized in the 1960s, according to Kwon, via Yonhap. A total of 22 people have so far requested a review of their contributions for a possible upgrade on the level of their state honors, the ministry said.

Expanded Compensation for Veterans' Families

In a separate development, Kwon said Friday he would make efforts to further eliminate blind spots of compensation for surviving family members of war veterans and the descendants of independence activists, Yonhap reported.

Kwon made the remarks as he marked his first year in office, as his ministry launched a subsidy program for surviving spouses of deceased war veterans in March as part of its efforts to expand compensation for low-income veterans, patriots, and their family members, according to Yonhap.

The benefits are applicable to some 17,000 people aged 80 or older, whose household income is at or below 50 percent of the median income, the ministry told Yonhap.

The ministry also expanded compensation for the descendants of activists who fought for the country's independence from Japan's colonial rule, Yonhap reported.

Under the new measures, which will take effect in 2027, descendants of independence activists will be eligible for compensation regardless of when the activists died, Yonhap said. Previously, only one descendant was offered the subsidies if the independence activist had died before Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, aside from their spouses and children.

Daejeon to Host 2029 Invictus Games

The ministry also said it will propose a special bill this year to oversee the country's hosting of the Invictus Games in 2029 in the central city of Daejeon, and launch the organizing committee by 2027, Yonhap reported.

The Invictus Games Foundation in Britain chose Daejeon, located about 140 kilometers south of Seoul, over Aalborg in Denmark and San Diego in the United States, to host the 2029 competition, marking the first time an Asian country was selected to stage the international sporting event for injured service members, Yonhap said.

Kwon touted the designation as a "turning point" to promote South Korea's capacity to provide medical care and rehabilitation services for veterans, Yonhap reported.