Expanded Honors and Compensation for Public Officials Who Die in High-Risk Duties

Strengthened Honors for Public Officials Who Die in the Line of Duty, Foundation Laid for Accident Prevention
Cabinet Approves Amendment to the Public Officials’ Compensation for Occupational Accidents Act

Treatment and compensation for public officials who die in the line of duty while performing high-risk work for the state and the people will be expanded. Policies on preventing occupational accidents among public officials will also be overhauled to establish a government-wide disaster prevention system.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Personnel Management announced that a partial amendment to the Public Officials’ Compensation for Occupational Accidents Act, reflecting these changes, had been approved at a Cabinet meeting. With some exceptions, the amended act will take effect one year after its promulgation.

Under the amended law, the scope of special bereaved family compensation and the category of those honored as military and police personnel who died in the line of duty will be expanded so that public officials who die in the line of duty while performing high-risk work can receive substantial compensation and honors regardless of their occupational group. Previously, the special bereaved family compensation for deaths in high-risk duties, which allows payment of up to 60 times the average standard monthly income of all public officials, applied only to deaths of police officers during anti-espionage operations. Going forward, this special provision will be available for all public officials who die in the line of duty while performing anti-espionage operations, or while performing other high-risk duties equivalent to being killed in action under the Military Personnel Occupational Accident Compensation Act.

Public officials other than police and firefighters who die in the line of duty (high-risk duties) while performing duties of soldiers, police officers, or firefighters will also be able to be honored as military and police personnel who died in the line of duty under the Act on the Honorable Treatment and Support of Persons of Distinguished Service to the State, as procedures and legal grounds for this will be established. In the past, public officials other than police and firefighters who died while performing the duties of soldiers, police officers, or firefighters could be treated as persons of distinguished service to the state or as persons eligible for veterans’ compensation, but there was no clear legal basis to recognize them specifically as military and police personnel who died in the line of duty.

Once recognized as military or police personnel who died in the line of duty, bereaved families are paid compensation under the Act on the Honorable Treatment and Support of Persons of Distinguished Service to the State, and procedures for burial in national cemeteries are greatly simplified, thereby expanding compensation and honors. In addition, the definition of high-risk duties has been revised, for example by including the duties of labor inspectors when they act as judicial police officers.

To ensure effective implementation of policies for preventing occupational accidents among public officials, related systems will be systematically reorganized. Under the amendment, each agency will be given a clear responsibility to implement policies to prevent occupational accidents among its affiliated public officials, and individual public officials will be obligated to comply with relevant regulations and measures for accident prevention.

In addition, going forward, each agency must designate, from among its public officials, a Health and Safety Officer who will oversee occupational accident prevention work, and must establish health and safety management regulations in order to carry out its own accident prevention activities. A new legal basis will also be created for supporting and managing the health and safety of public officials to prevent work-related accidents in advance, such as those caused by overwork and job stress. This will provide the legal grounds for each agency to support medical checkups and psychological assessments for its public officials, and, based on the results, to take necessary measures such as job reassignment and psychological counseling support.

Choi Dongsuk, Minister of Personnel Management, said, "We will narrow the blind spots in disaster prevention within the public sector and create conditions that allow public officials to concentrate on their duties," adding, "We will continue to work to build a foundation that enables public officials to serve the people with a strong sense of calling."