"Invoking the Statute of Limitations After Failing to Notify Family of a Line-of-Duty Death Is an Abuse of Rights"... Court Blocks Military's Refusal to Pay Compensation

Military Refused Compensation Without Notifying the Family of the Line-of-Duty Recognition
Court: "It Would Be Difficult to Expect the Plaintiff to Exercise That Right"

Can the military refuse to pay compensation on the grounds that the period for filing a claim has expired if a family member who died during military service was belatedly recognized as having died in the line of duty, but the military failed to notify the family? The court ruled that it was unjust for the military to invoke the statute of limitations against surviving family members who were unable to claim compensation because they had not been informed of the recognition.

According to legal circles on November 2, the 10th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Judge Jeong Eun-young, ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by A against the head of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service seeking to overturn the decision denying payment of military death compensation. The court said, "The statute of limitations on the right to claim compensation had expired," but ruled that "the military's refusal to pay on that basis constitutes an abuse of rights contrary to the principle of good faith."

Republic of Korea Army. Yonhap News Agency

Died during military service... Recognized as having died in the line of duty 40 years later

A's older brother enlisted in the Army in September 1954 and served as a soldier in an engineer corps unit before dying on November 24, 1956. The military's cremation report at the time listed the cause of death as "illness," while the names of the person who received his belongings and the date they were received were left blank. The family received no explanation of the circumstances of his death or the procedure for claiming compensation. Around 1965, A had only heard from his mother that his brother had died in the military.

In 1996-1997, Army Headquarters reclassified his brother's death as a death in the line of duty. The military corrected its original decision about 40 years after his death but did not notify the family. A was officially informed that his brother had been recognized as having died in the line of duty more than 28 years later, on May 26, 2025.

On November 18 that year, A filed a claim for death compensation with the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, but the agency rejected it on December 3, citing the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations. A filed a lawsuit, arguing that the limitations period should have begun on the date he was notified that his brother had died in the line of duty. He also argued that even if the limitations period had expired, the military's refusal to pay compensation on that basis was an abuse of rights.

Court recognizes expiration of limitations period... Refusal to pay constitutes abuse of rights

The court rejected A's argument that the statute of limitations had not expired. Because A had heard about his brother's death around 1965 and the death was also recorded in the certified copy of the removed family register, the court found that the family knew or could have known by then at the latest that they had grounds to claim compensation.

Seoul Administrative Court. The Asia Business Daily DB

However, the court found that the decision to refuse payment by invoking the statute of limitations was unlawful. It reasoned that the family had been unable to exercise the right to claim compensation in practice because they did not know the specific circumstances of his death and had received no guidance about the claims process.

The court found in particular that, before Army Headquarters reclassified the death as having occurred in the line of duty, a compensation claim by the family would likely have been rejected. It also found that, even after the reclassification, the military did not notify the family, leaving them no opportunity to exercise their right to claim compensation. The court said, "It would be difficult to expect the plaintiff to have taken any further steps to exercise that right," and found that "A would have claimed compensation had he known of the decision recognizing his brother's death as having occurred in the line of duty."

Notification date, not date of death... Aim of protecting surviving family members

The court also cited the purpose behind revisions to the military death benefit system. The Military Death Benefit Regulations, enacted in 1951, set a five-year period for claiming death benefits from the date the grounds for payment arose. The regulations were revised in 1955, changing the starting point for the claim period to "the date the death notification was received." The court ruled that the revision "reflected the circumstances during the Korean War, when it was difficult for bereaved families to accurately determine whether a service member had died and the cause of death without official notification from the state."

The court found that the military's decision to deny compensation on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired, without notifying the family that the death had been recognized as having occurred in the line of duty, ran counter to the Constitution's provision for state compensation for harm related to military service and the purpose of the military death compensation system. It further stated that the decision "cannot be said to be consistent with the rationale for the statute of limitations, which is to penalize the prolonged failure of right holders to exercise their rights and to stabilize legal relations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.