Government Posthumously Awards Medal to Colonel Kim for Resisting 12.12 Coup

The South Korean government has decided to posthumously award the Eulji Military Merit Medal to the late Colonel Kim Oh-rang, who died resisting the 12.12 coup. The medal will also be awarded to the late Sergeant Jeong Seon-yeop. Both soldiers died during the 1979 military coup led by Chun Doo-hwan. The government approved the conferral of medals and commendations to 7,284 individuals across 17 categories during a State Council meeting chaired by President Lee Jae-myung at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. Colonel Kim, who was the chief of staff for the Special Warfare Commander at the time of the coup, was fatally wounded while resisting an attempt by the mutineers to arrest the commander. In 2022, the Ministry of National Defense revised Colonel Kim's death status from 'died on duty' to 'died in action' following a reinvestigation request by the Military Death Incident Truth Commission. Based on this revision, the government canceled his previous Boksang Order of Military Merit award in March and pursued the posthumous award of the Eulji Military Merit Medal. Sergeant Jeong was on duty at a guard post in the Ministry of National Defense underground bunker during the coup. He refused the mutineers' demands to disarm and was killed by their gunfire while defending his post.