The government is pushing to posthumously award a military merit medal to the late Lt. Col. Kim Oh-rang, who died resisting the new military faction during the December 12, 1979, military mutiny.
According to the military on Wednesday, the Ministry of National Defense has drawn up a plan to revoke the Order of National Security Merit posthumously awarded to Lt. Col. Kim in 2014 and replace it with a military merit medal. Revoking the existing medal requires a Cabinet resolution. The government is known to submit the motion to the Cabinet meeting on Thursday for approval.
The measure is a follow-up action reflecting the Ministry of National Defense's 2022 decision to reclassify Lt. Col. Kim's death from "death in the line of duty" to "killed in action." Under the Military Personnel Management Act, death in the line of duty refers to death during the performance of official duties, while killed in action refers to death resulting from combat or hostile acts by an enemy, or death while attempting to prevent armed insurgency, mutiny, or other disturbances to public order.
During the December 12, 1979, military mutiny, Kim — then a major — was serving as chief of staff to Special Warfare Command Commander Chung Byung-joo. When troops from the new military faction's 3rd Airborne Brigade stormed in to arrest Commander Chung, Kim engaged them in a firefight and was fatally shot at the scene.
Initially, Kim was classified as having died in the line of duty rather than killed in action. He was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1990, and the Order of National Security Merit was posthumously conferred on him in 2014.
However, in 2022, the Presidential Commission on Verification of Military Deaths requested the Ministry of National Defense to re-examine Kim's death classification from line of duty to killed in action. The ministry acknowledged that Kim died while resisting the military mutiny and reclassified his death accordingly.
On December 24, the government revoked the Chungmu Order of Military Merit from 10 figures of the new military faction — including former Army Chief of Staff Kim Jin-young — who participated in the December 12 mutiny after their citations were found to be based on fabricated achievements.