Ex-patriots minister suffers from cancer

By Lee Min-hyung

Park Sung-choon, former patriots minister

Former Patriots and Veterans Affairs Minister Park Sung-choon is suffering from cancer due to exposure to a chemical defoliant while performing his military duty back in the early 1970s.

In April last year, Park was diagnosed with stage-four prostate cancer caused by the aftereffects of his exposure to the defoliant in 1971 when he served his military mission as a frontline platoon leader during the Vietnam War.

Park led the ministry for seven years from 2011 before stepping down from the post in May last year when the President Moon Jae-in administration took office.

In July last year, Park applied for war veteran status, citing that the cancer was developed largely due to his military duty.

Four months later, the Seoul Regional Office of Patriots and Veterans Affairs accepted his application.

But dispute is growing over whether to grant him veteran status, after it was known Thursday that the ministry put his application on hold due to procedural reasons only a few days after deciding to accept the application.

The ministry said there were internal procedural errors and it did not carry out reviews on Park's application from external examiners. Under the current law, the external examination is required when civil servants seek to gain patriot status.

Park is in a position to qualify for the status, as the illness resulted from his military service. As he resigned from the post in May, he was not a civil servant by the time he applied for the status.

“The review is being carried out fairly in accordance with the ministry's internal rule,” a ministry official said. “It has been undecided over when we will be able to announce the result on the review of the application.”

But speculations have also surfaced that the ministry excluded him from the list on purpose under political pressure from the incumbent government, which the ministry said is far from the truth.