The government has revoked 198 state awards granted to individuals involved in the 12·12 military coup, the suppression of the 5·18 Democratization Movement, martial law operations, and the fabrication of espionage cases.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety deliberated and approved the cancellation of 198 awards bestowed upon 167 individuals during the 31st Cabinet meeting held today (July 21).

The revocations include 76 military service medals and merit medals awarded to 76 individuals involved in the 12·12 military coup, the 5·18 Democratization Movement crackdown, and martial law duties between 1980 and 1981.

Also included are 122 medals, merit medals, presidential citations, and prime ministerial citations awarded to 91 individuals involved in cases such as fabricated espionage incidents from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The government reviewed the appropriateness of these awards to rectify those granted to individuals involved in anti-constitutional acts and state-sponsored violence, including fabricated spy cases.

The Ministry of National Defense, the National Police Agency, and the National Intelligence Service participated in this process.

The government also carried out administrative procedures, including prior notification to the involved parties and the convening of a public service review committee.

The revoked awards consist of 76 under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense, 36 under the National Police Agency, and 86 under the National Intelligence Service.

The confirmed revocations include four awards received by Park Cho-won, the former head of the anti-communist investigation bureau at the National Police Headquarters, who was in charge of the Namyeong-dong anti-communist interrogation facility.

These include one Order of Merit (Nokjo), one Order of Merit (Hongjo), and two presidential citations received by the former official.

Park was born in 1927 and died in 2008.

One prime ministerial citation received by Lee Geun-an, a known torturer who died in March of this year, was also revoked.

In March, the Ministry of National Defense revoked the Chungmu Order of Military Merit awarded to 10 individuals who played significant roles in the 12·12 military coup.

Subsequently, it identified and initiated revocation procedures for 76 additional individuals who had unfairly received military service medals and merit medals between 1980 and 1981.

Among them, 42 individuals who received awards for national security contributions were found to have no actual merit qualifying for such honors, following a full investigation into their service records and records of anti-espionage operations at the time.

The ministry determined that their actions did not meet the requirements for military service medals, which require duties equivalent to combat, or merit medals, which require dedication and effort toward national defense.

The Ministry of National Defense also determined that the 34 individuals honored for martial law contributions held false merits under the Awards and Decorations Act.

This decision was based on the judicial determination that the imposition of martial law constituted an act of insurrection and a violation of the constitution that destroyed the constitutional order.

The ministry concluded that duties performed at the Martial Law Command and subordinate units could not be recognized as meritorious service, as they were acts that aided the illegal seizure of power and insurrection by the new military junta.

Since March, the National Police Agency has conducted a full investigation into approximately 100,000 government awards granted since the agency's inception.

It identified awards related to cases where illegal activities, such as unlawful arrests, torture, and the suppression of the democratization movement, were confirmed.

The 36 revoked awards under the National Police Agency include 15 orders of merit, 3 merit medals, 12 presidential citations, and 6 prime ministerial citations.

The largest number of revocations, 29, related to the South Korean National Liberation Front (Namminjeon) case, in which about 80 people were arrested in 1979 on charges including violations of the National Security Act.

In retrials held in 2024 and 2025, the defendants in the Namminjeon case were acquitted after illegal detention and torture were recognized as facts.

Awards related to the Samcheok fixed-spy ring case and the Seoul National University Murim case were also included in the revocations, with two and three awards canceled, respectively.

Awards related to the Ham Ju-myung spy case and the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development case were also revoked, with one cancellation each.

The National Police Agency has also requested that relevant agencies revoke 51 ministerial citations related to these cases.

Currently, the agency is proceeding with additional procedures to revoke government awards granted in connection with anti-constitutional acts, such as the suppression of the 5·18 Democratization Movement and the Samcheong Re-education Program.

At the end of March, the National Intelligence Service conducted an internal full investigation into government awards granted to its employees since the establishment of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency.

It reviewed retrial judgments, reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Intelligence Service's own truth committee, and the merit records of the recipients.

As a result, it confirmed violations of investigation procedures and human rights abuses in 19 cases, including 17 cases where acquittals were finalized through retrials and two cases identified by the truth committees.

The National Intelligence Service has requested the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to revoke 86 government awards granted to 71 individuals in connection with cases such as the spy ring involving ethnic Koreans in Japan, the Boseong family spy ring, and the Jeju mother-daughter spy case.

This marks the third time this year that government awards have been revoked, following 11 revocations in January, including the Order of National Security Merit, and 10 in March involving military service medals.

The National Police Agency and the National Intelligence Service have apologized to the victims and their bereaved families who suffered from the illegal exercise of public power and human rights abuses in the past.

The government plans to continue identifying and revoking government awards that were inappropriately granted in connection with anti-constitutional acts and fabricated espionage cases.

(Photo: Yonhap News)