Assemblyman Oh Young-hoon: "Compensation for Jeju 4·3 Victims Will Become a Model for Resolving Historical Issues"
Uniform Payment of 90 Million Won per Death or Missing Victim
Public Hearing to Be Held in Jeju on the 5th of Next Month to Gather Opinions on the Bill
[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Practical compensation regulations for the victims of the Jeju 4·3 incident are expected to be established within this year.
Oh Young-hoon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee, Jeju Eul), announced on the 28th that he has introduced a partial amendment bill to the Special Act on the Investigation of the Jeju 4·3 Incident and the Restoration of the Honor of Victims (Jeju 4·3 Special Act).
In February, a full revision of the Jeju 4·3 Special Act, which included the basis for providing consolation payments to the victims of Jeju 4·3, passed the plenary session of the National Assembly. However, specific details regarding compensation were not included, so it was decided to pursue supplementary legislation through a research project by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
To this end, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been conducting a joint research project under the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences on the "Institutionalization of Standards for Past Incident Compensation and Reparation" since February. The research is led by the Korea Legislation Research Institute, with the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice Policy participating as well.
Once this partial amendment bill to the Jeju 4·3 Special Act passes the plenary session of the National Assembly, specific details regarding compensation will be legally defined, thereby restoring the honor of the Jeju 4·3 victims and providing them with practical compensation.
According to the Jeju 4·3 Special Act proposed by Representative Oh, the government will provide equal compensation of 90 million KRW per person to the deceased and missing victims to fully compensate for mental damages (consolation payments) and active damages.
Compensation for the Jeju 4·3 victims will be made according to a five-year phased payment plan, with 181 billion KRW included in the government budget for the first year of compensation in 2022.
Representative Oh stated, "Through this amendment, we aim to fulfill the national responsibility to the victims and their families who have lived with pain and suffering for 73 years," adding, "The start of compensation for Jeju 4·3 will serve as a precedent for resolving past incident issues in other regions."
He also mentioned, "Since the schedule is tight and the amendment must be passed within this year, we will first introduce the bill and hold a public hearing with experts in Jeju on the 5th of next month to gather opinions. The feedback from the public hearing will be used to supplement the bill during the National Assembly's deliberation process."
He added, "We will make every effort to ensure the smooth passage of the Jeju 4·3 Special Act within this year so that the compensation payment plan starting next year can proceed without any setbacks."
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