Generous Compensation Expected

By Park Si-soo

Staff Reporter

No matter how much the compensation paid, it will not be enough and will never fill the void the 46 dead sailors of the warship Cheonan have left in the hearts of their families.

But the government and the nation's people are willing to provide them with as much as they can.

The remuneration to be given to the families of the 46 deceased Navy crewmembers of the 1,200-ton frigate Cheonan could be as much as five times the basic amount, depending on what caused the vessel to sink.

An investigation to confirm whether a North Korean attack is to blame is underway.

Defense Ministry Kim Tae-young has pledged to provide the maximum settlement to the distraught families. The ministry has sought to compensate them as they would war victims, the highest level of state restitution.

If the North's involvement is confirmed, the ministry said, families of late 36 commissioned and non-commissioned officers will be paid up to 358 million won ($320,930) in a lump-sum by the ministry. Families of the other 10 conscripted Navy crewmembers will be given 200 million won.

On top of this, up to 2.55 million won will be given to families of the 36 on a monthly basis as a military pension, while the conscripts' families will receive 940,000 won.

Those subscribing to a military insurance policy will be given an extra 100 million in one-off payment. Another 50 million won from money collected in nationwide fund raising by the Army, Navy and Air Force will be given to the affected families.

More than 20 billion won raised by TV stations and newspaper companies here thorough donations from the people is awaiting the ministry's decision on how to use it.

"We will soon open talks with the media firms involved on how to deal with it," said Yoon Won-sik, a spokesman for the ministry.

Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), one of the companies that has collected funds from citizens, said it plans to establish a non-profit foundation aimed at raising public awareness of the disaster and national security, a KBS spokesman said.

If it's confirmed by the investigation that the ship's sinking was an accident and nothing to do with the North, each family will be given just 36.5 million won in compensation.