Court: "Denial of Hearing Disability Pension Based on Pre-Enrollment Medical Examination Is Unjust"

The court ruled that the National Pension Service's decision to deny disability pension benefits based on a hearing impairment diagnosis from the military conscription physical examination prior to enrollment in the National Pension was unjust.

Seoul Administrative Court.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 12 (Presiding Judge Kang Jaewon) ruled in favor of Mr. A in a lawsuit seeking cancellation of the decision denying his right to receive disability pension benefits filed against the National Pension Service.

Mr. A enrolled in the National Pension in 1999 and applied for disability pension benefits in March 2022 at the age of 60 due to hearing impairment. In June 2010, he received medical treatment related to hearing loss at a hospital and was diagnosed with a Grade 4 hearing disability. However, the National Pension Service rejected his claim, stating that the hearing impairment existed prior to his enrollment. This was based on the result from the 1985 military conscription physical examination, which showed a moderate hearing loss (41?55 dB). Mr. A filed an administrative lawsuit arguing that the pension service’s decision was unlawful because he had lived a normal life until receiving treatment in June 2010.

The court ruled in favor of Mr. A. The bench stated, “The fact that a moderate hearing loss (41?55 dB) was identified during the 1985 military conscription physical examination and that a Grade 4 hearing disability was assigned does not necessarily mean that the disease causing the hearing impairment occurred before Mr. A enrolled in the National Pension in 1999.” Furthermore, “It is reasonable to conclude, based on medical and objective judgment, that the disease directly causing the hearing impairment occurred around 2010, during the period when the plaintiff was enrolled in the National Pension.”

The court also noted, “At that time, the hearing test involved the examinee standing 5 meters away from a military doctor, who would whisper and have the examinee step closer one step at a time until they could accurately repeat the whispered words.” The court found “insufficient grounds to consider the moderate hearing loss diagnosis from the military conscription physical examination as highly credible.” The court added, “There is a lack of evidence that Mr. A’s pure tone threshold was medically and objectively measured by that test method alone, and no separate detailed examination was conducted.”

Moreover, the court stated, “There is no evidence to suggest that Mr. A concealed the fact of disease occurrence when enrolling in the National Pension for the purpose of receiving disability pension benefits and later claimed disability pension benefits on the grounds that the disease occurred afterward.”