Participants pose for a group photo at a public forum on the historical trial of the forced dismissal of journalists in 1980, held at the National Assembly Library auditorium on July 20. From fourth from right: Assembly member Jo Gyeong-tae, National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik, Kim Jae-hong, co-chair of the Association of Journalists Dismissed in 1980, Seoul education superintendent Jeong Geun-sik, Assembly member Jeon Jin-suk and Assembly member Jeong Jin-uk. [Association of Journalists Dismissed in 1980]
Participants pose for a group photo at a public forum on the historical trial of the forced dismissal of journalists in 1980, held at the National Assembly Library auditorium on July 20. From fourth from right: Assembly member Jo Gyeong-tae, National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik, Kim Jae-hong, co-chair of the Association of Journalists Dismissed in 1980, Seoul education superintendent Jeong Geun-sik, Assembly member Jeon Jin-suk and Assembly member Jeong Jin-uk. [Association of Journalists Dismissed in 1980]

A court has ruled that living allowances paid as compensation to journalists dismissed by Chun Doo-hwan's military government in the 1980s must be recalculated to reflect inflation.

According to legal sources, the Gwangju District Court's Administrative Division 1, presided over by Judge Kim Jeong-jung, issued a partial ruling in favor of the plaintiffs on Aug. 13 in a case brought by Kim Jae-hong, a former Assembly member and member of the Association of Journalists Dismissed in 1980, and three others against the May 18 Democratization Movement Compensation Deliberation Committee. The plaintiffs had sought to overturn the committee's decisions on their living allowance payments.

The court found that applying the living allowance criteria under democratization compensation laws without accounting for inflation violated the principle of substantive equality and was therefore unconstitutional and unlawful, and thus void.

The court added that living allowances are intended to "supplement the livelihoods" of those connected to the May 18 Democratization Movement and other democratization-related figures. Any comparison of allowance levels, it said, must be based on the real value of the support — meaning its actual purchasing power over goods and services.

The court also cited the cumulative consumer price increase of 46.39 percent between 2007 and 2024, noting that the same nominal amount carries different real value depending on when it is paid.

The court said that unless there were special circumstances preventing the reflection of such inflation — such as changes in the pool of eligible recipients or constraints on available funding — there was no rational basis for allowing such disparities to persist.

Members of the association became eligible for compensation following the eighth amendment to the May 18 Compensation Act in 2022. Gwangju city subsequently calculated their living allowances using standards set when the law was enacted in 2007 and notified the individuals of the amounts. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit arguing that applying roughly 20-year-old standards without any inflation adjustment was unlawful.

In a statement issued after the ruling, the association said it was "entirely appropriate" that the court had accepted the plaintiffs' argument — that setting living allowances without factoring in inflation had itself produced irrational discrimination, amounting to the consistent application of an unconstitutional and unlawful standard that violated the principle of equality — and had ordered the situation corrected.

The association also urged the Ministry of Interior and Safety and the May 18 Compensation Deliberation Committee to swiftly take follow-up action in line with the ruling. It called on the government to revise relevant laws and regulations so that the court's intent — that inflation be reflected in living allowance payments — applies not only to dismissed journalists but also to victims of state violence and other democratization-related figures.

The association said it hoped the government, the National Assembly and the ruling Democratic Party would actively work toward a fundamental resolution, in keeping with President Lee Jae-myung's remarks on Aug. 7 when he invited Han Jong-beom, standing chair of the association, and about 70 other victims of past state violence to Cheong Wa Dae. There, Lee offered a broad apology for state violence, promised appropriate compensation and pledged to remove legal obstacles such as statute-of-limitations issues.


pooh@heraldcorp.com