Notice to a Fallen Soldier`s Family Improved

Military officers from next month will visit the families of soldiers killed in battle or in the line of duty to inform them of the deaths.

After a funeral, a consolatory letter written by the leader of a military unit and keepsakes of the dead soldier will be delivered to his bereaved family. An officer supporting bereaved families will also help a fallen soldier’s relatives to receive compensation without difficulty.

A soldier’s ID photo will be taken against the background of the national flag and the flag of military units. By doing so, the photos can be used in funerals for dead soldiers.

The Defense Ministry announced Wednesday measures to improve procedures to inform the bereaved families of fallen soldiers and provide compensation to take effect Saturday.

Accordingly, the bereaved relatives of the 46 crewmen killed in the sinking of the naval patrol ship Cheonan will be the first to benefit from the new measures. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young had deemed existing measures insufficient and ordered new measures to be drawn up.

Under current procedures, the Army officially sends a death certificate long after notifying a fallen soldier’s bereaved family on the death over the phone.

The major change is a swift death notice and more respectful treatment of bereaved families. A unit that has a soldier who dies must immediately report it to superiors. The person in charge of superiors should appoint a staff officer or command sergeant major as the “death notice officer,” who must visit the bereaved family in two hours.

When the military unit of a dead soldier is far away from his bereaved family, it will ask another unit in the vicinity of the bereaved relatives’ home to implement procedures for death notice.

mhpark@donga.com