Victims suffer compensation delays as military struggles with W150b shortfall

Victims of state violence continue to experience delays in court-ordered military compensation due to budget shortcomings, even though the Defense Ministry has used funds earmarked for other programs to make up for the shortfall, data released Sunday showed.

According to data by the Defense Ministry submitted to the office of Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the main opposition People Power Party, the ministry owed a combined 150 billion won ($112 million) in compensation to 4,637 people as of the end of September.

Despite the outstanding backlog, the ministry had allocated just 20 billion won for compensation this year, up from 17.7 billion won in 2025. Actual spending on compensation, however, was found to have exceeded those allocations by a wide margin.

The ministry had already spent nearly 90 billion won on compensation by the end of August this year, more than four times its initial budget, with total spending projected to reach 202.2 billion won by year-end.

The gap has persisted for years.

In 2023, the ministry spent 87.9 billion won against an initial compensation budget of 27.7 billion won. Spending rose to 135.7 billion won in 2024 and 179.4 billion won in 2025, while the annual budget remained at just 17.7 billion won in both years.

To address the shortfall, the ministry has repeatedly diverted funds from other budget categories.

This year, it transferred 70 billion won from other programs, including funds earmarked for noncommissioned officers' personnel expenses.

In previous years, the ministry secured an additional 118 billion won in 2024 and 171.9 billion won in 2025 through budget transfers and other adjustments.

Despite these additional funds, compensation payments have been delayed, with some victims waiting more than seven months after filing their claims.

The delays have also added to the budget deficit, with interest costs projected to reach 10.2 billion won this year, up from 2.6 billion won in 2023.

Still, the government's proposed 2027 budget sets aside 50.3 billion won for compensation, less than 30 percent of the 172.5 billion won the ministry estimates it will need.

Yu warned that delays in court-ordered payments could undermine public trust in the government and called for more realistic budget planning.

"Even considering limited fiscal resources, the government must carefully assess future compensation needs, ensure adequate budget allocations and take steps to minimize payment delays," Yu said.

According to Yu's office, the compensation payments largely concern victims of the Samcheong reeducation camps and the 1948 Jeju uprising. Details of individual court rulings were not disclosed.

The Samcheong camps were military-run detention facilities established in 1980 under military strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a 1979 military coup. Nearly 40,000 civilians were forcibly detained and subjected to harsh treatment as part of a campaign ostensibly aimed at restoring social order.

The Jeju uprising and subsequent government crackdown under South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee, left an estimated 14,000 to 30,000 people dead between 1948 and 1954.