Most revoked state honors in Korea remain unreturned

An image of the Grand Order of Mugunghwa, Korea's highest state honor, awarded by President Lee Jae Myung to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto during his state visit to Korea on April 1 / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

A significant number of state honors revoked by the Korean government over the past decades have not been returned, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the current system.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Sunday, only 260 of the 833 government awards revoked since the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948 have been returned. Excluding 42 cases revoked this year that are still undergoing recovery procedures, the return rate of canceled state honors stands at just 32.9 percent over the past 78 years.

Of the hundreds of awards that have yet to be recovered, about 25 percent involve deceased recipients, around 28 percent were reported lost or destroyed, 16 percent are linked to unknown addresses and the rest, 31 percent, fall under other categories, such as loss of contact.

Concerns are being raised about the effectiveness of the system, as a significant number of revoked state honors remain unrecovered. In reality, there are few viable means to forcibly retrieve the awards if recipients refuse to return them.

Still, recent trends show notable improvement, despite the overall low recovery rate. Over the past five years, 65 out of 68 revoked honors have been recovered, showing a recovery rate of over 95 percent. The three unrecovered cases during this period were attributed to death, loss or other unspecified reasons.

Among those who have not returned their honors are some high-profile figures, including deceased former president Roh Tae-woo. During his life, Roh reportedly refused to return 11 medals he received during his tenure. Several military officers involved in the suppression of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, also known as the May 18 Democratization Movement, also retain unreturned decorations.

In contrast, the late former president Chun Doo-hwan eventually returned nine medals himself in 2013, seven years after their revocation. These honors had been awarded during and after his rule, including the highest national decoration.

Loss or destruction has also been cited as a reason for the failure to return revoked state honors. The Order of Civil Merit awarded to Lee Geun-an, known as a torture technician, and the Order of Science and Technology Merit awarded to former Seoul National University professor Hwang Woo-suk, who was involved in a high-profile stem cell fabrication scandal, have not been recovered after being reported lost or destroyed.

Legal standards for revoking honors were strengthened in 2019, lowering the threshold for cancellation to any crime resulting in a prison sentence of one year or more.