The Moon Jae-in administration put a core value in its national agenda when it declared
that a 'government is ruled by the people' and in policy task when it stated 'a government
rewarding the devotion to the nation' in 2017.
A heart-warming reward is the veterans policy of Ministry of Patriots and Veterans
Affairs that will implement a fair veterans policy which takes responsibility for veterans
who defended our nation with sacrifice and dedication.
This paper is an in-depth study on the results of the reward policy and the veteran
policy for the Ojakgyo military operation which was the very first oversea dispatch of
Korean combat troops after the formation of the Korean government. The Ojakgyo military
operation was a successful corps-level action made during the Vietnam war approximately
50 years ago. Timely and appropriate rewards play a key role in war. However, it is not
easy to find academic research which has studied results of the reward policy in Korean
military history.
Therefore, this paper has analyzed the results of the Badge of Courage reward from the
Ojakgyo military operation, a successful corps-level mission, which included 320,000 soldiers
that served during an 8 year and 6 month period from 1964 to 1973. It also suggested to
consider an improvement plan for veteran policies founded on the idea of a 'Heartwarming
Reward to Veterans,' to be established for war veterans.