Page 303 - 2020 Defence White Paper

has been merged to 43%, with the additional point system for bereaved families
newly established. Before, if a soldier dies after serving for less than 20 years, 35.75%
of the standard monthly income of the soldier and 42.25% of the monthly standard
income after 20 years of service were differentially paid. With the enactment of
Military Accident Compensation Act, however, the payment rate was increased to
43% regardless of the period of service. Furthermore, the MND has strengthened the
nature of supporting the livelihood of bereaved families by establishing an additional
point system for bereaved families, thus adding 5% and up to 20% to the payment
rate per bereaved family.
Fourth, in April 2019, the Military Pension Act was revised to protect the rights of
bereaved families who are unable to receive related benefits due to the expiration of
the right to claim benefits even though death on duty has been recognized through
an reexamination by the Committee for the Examination of Killed or Wounded in
Action and Death or Injury in the Line of Duty (Review Committee), thus modifying
the date when the computation of the duration to file a claim for benefits begins
for those who have been reclassified as having died on duty. Since the prescribed
duration to file a claim for benefits is five years from "the day the cause of benefits
arose", if five years pass from the date of death, even if death on duty is determined
through a reexamination by the Review Committee, the bereaved families were
unable to file a claim for benefits, such as pension for the bereaved families of those Chapter 7
who have died on duty, compensation for death, and retirement allowances due to
the expiration of the duration to file the claim. In order to address such issues, a
special provision of prescription was newly established to make the request effective,

through reexamination by the Review Committee, from the "decision date on death"
rather than the "death date" of the soldier who died on duty.

Chapter 7. Embedding an Inclusive Culture in the Military: With the People, Trusted by the People 301