During a National Assembly audit of the Constitutional Court, a call was made for the government to provide additional compensation to address disparities in mental damages awarded to victims of the 5·18 Gwangju Uprising.
Rep. Park Kyun-taek of the Democratic Party pointed out on October 13 that even among victims who suffered the same harm, the amount of mental damages can vary by as much as four times depending on the court and judges involved.
In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional a provision that limited damage claims for 5·18 victims who had already received compensation, allowing for separate lawsuits for mental damages. However, since the calculation of damages is left to the discretion of individual courts, significant disparities of two to four times in compensation amounts have emerged for the same injuries, according to Rep. Park.
The issue is that victims who receive lower compensation amounts cannot file new lawsuits for the same case due to the binding effect of the final judgment, making it difficult for them to seek additional compensation.
To address this imbalance, Rep. Park introduced a bill in December of last year aimed at establishing clear criteria for calculating mental damage compensation under the 'Compensation Act for Participants in the 5·18 Gwangju Uprising.'
The proposed amendment stipulates that the government should provide additional payments based on the difference between the compensation calculated according to the established criteria and the original compensation amount and criminal compensation already awarded.
On the same day, Shin In-hyuk, the head of the Constitutional Court's administrative office, responded to Rep. Park's inquiry about the constitutionality of the amendment, stating, "I cannot say definitively, but if it is difficult to assess mental damages, there may be room to establish certain criteria."
Rep. Park emphasized, "The imbalance, where compensation amounts can differ by up to four times for the same injury depending on the court, must be corrected. I will work to ensure the prompt passage of the amendment so that the government can provide additional compensation to restore the rights of the victims."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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