With "Increase Veterans Budget... Expand Welfare for National Merit Recipients"

Park Kwang-on Floor Leader "Veterans Affairs Budget Must Be Greatly Expanded"

The Democratic Party of Korea stated on the 6th, marking Memorial Day, that it is necessary to expand the welfare infrastructure for national veterans through a significant increase in the veterans' budget.

Floor Leader Park Kwang-on wrote on Facebook that day, "The national veterans' budget is the face of a country," adding, "The proportion of the national veterans' budget in the total budget is about 3% in Germany and 2.5% in the United States, but it remains at 1% in our country."

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 31st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

He emphasized, "The veterans' budget should be increased to the level of advanced countries and intensively invested in medical infrastructure for minimum income guarantees and prevention of solitary deaths," adding, "In particular, it is also necessary to make veterans' hospitals the best medical institutions in the country."

Floor Leader Park pointed out, "Many national veterans face lonely deaths while being isolated from society. In the past five years, 108 national veterans have passed away without relatives," and "Among vulnerable veterans, there are 23,000 single-person households with an average age of 71. Those who sacrificed for the country are in a situation where they have to worry about economic hardship and solitary deaths."

He continued, "This is not justice. It is a shameful self-portrait of the world's 10th largest economy," and said, "The veterans' home welfare infrastructure must be greatly improved. Differentiated and high-quality welfare should be provided to the extent that the degree of respect can be truly felt."