▲ This photo shows Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul speaking during a policy briefing at the National Assembly on July 28, 2026. (Yonhap)

By Kim Hyun-soo

SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- The veterans ministry said Wednesday it will seek to identify more independence activists who have yet to be recognized for their role in achieving Korea's independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and award state honors to them.

In a policy briefing to President Lee Jae Myung, the ministry said it plans to award more than 600 independence activists previously not recognized by the state, up from 502 in 2025, according to the ministry.

The government is also pushing to reassess the contributions of independence activists by reviewing newly discovered achievements and granting additional state honors based on the findings.

"Given that times have changed, I suggested that it may be necessary to revisit the criteria as well," Veterans Minister Kwon Oh-eul told a press briefing on Monday.

The ministry is reviewing focusing the reassessment on independence activists who were awarded the Order of the President or the Order of Independence before the 1970s, when historical records and relevant research were insufficient.

There are currently about 18,000 people who have been awarded state honors as independence activists, most of whom were awarded in the 1960s, according to Kwon.

A total of 22 people have so far requested for review of their contributions for a possible upgrade on the level of their state honors, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the ministry also said it will propose a special bill this year to oversee the country's hosting of the Invictus Games in 2029 in the central city of Daejeon, and launch the organizing committee by 2027.

The Invictus Games Foundation in Britain chose Daejeon, located about 140 kilometers south of Seoul, over Aalborg in Denmark and San Diego in the United States, to host the 2029 competition. It marks the first time an Asian country was selected to host the games.

On Wednesday, the ministry also unveiled plans to conduct an on-site survey of all 1,032 overseas historical sites related to Korea's independence movement against Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule by 2028.

Under the plan, the ministry will conduct the inspection at 258 sites in China and Japan this year, followed by 413 sites in 2027, and the remaining 361 sites in 2028.

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