Claim Raven explanation
What this means
This statute provides herbicide-related presumptions for qualifying service in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone from September 1, 1967 through August 31, 1971. The claimed disease must also meet the applicable disease requirements.
The statutory service period and wording should be checked directly. A unit list can be useful evidence, but the actual location and circumstances of service remain important to understanding the claim.
How this helps your claim
Build a service timeline using unit assignments and records of duty in or near the DMZ. Compare the decision's service-period analysis with this statute and the relevant disease list.
What to check in your records
Use your decision, examination reports, and relevant records to check the following points.
- Verify assignment dates and evidence of duty in or near the DMZ.
- Match the diagnosis to the covered herbicide-disease provisions.
- Check whether VA used the statutory service period when evaluating eligibility.
Connect Korean service to the qualifying location and period
A service record can show assignment in Korea without establishing where duties occurred in relation to the Demilitarized Zone. Dates and actual circumstances matter. Keep unit information, personnel records and any relevant duty evidence together.
The disease requirement remains separate from presumed exposure. Confirm the diagnosed condition under the applicable disease provisions rather than assuming every illness after Korean service is covered. A unit list can help investigate service facts, but it should not replace reading the statute's actual location and period language.
Does any Korean deployment qualify for this presumption?
No. The provision has specified dates and service circumstances. A deployment outside those conditions cannot be placed within this particular presumption simply because the country matches. Other supported exposure or service-connection questions require their own applicable authority and evidence.
Official statutory text
38 USC § 1116B
OLRC release through Public Law 119-102 (July 12, 2026). Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The statutory text is shown here; publisher source credits and editorial notes remain in the linked official release.
§ 1116B. Presumption of herbicide exposure for certain veterans who served in Korea
(a) Presumption of Service-Connection.—(1) For the purposes of section 1110 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of this title, a disease specified in subsection (b) that becomes manifest as specified in that subsection in a veteran described in paragraph (2) shall be considered to have been incurred or aggravated in the line of duty in the active military, naval, or air service, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such service.
(2) A veteran described in this paragraph is a veteran who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in or near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), during the period beginning on September 1, 1967, and ending on August 31, 1971.
(b) Diseases.—A disease specified in this subsection is—
(1) a disease specified in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of section 1116 of this title that becomes manifest as specified in that paragraph; or
(2) any additional disease that—
(A) pursuant to subchapter VII of this chapter, the Secretary determines in regulations warrants a presumption of service-connection by reason of having positive association with exposure to an herbicide agent; and
(B) becomes manifest within any period prescribed in such regulations.
(c) Herbicide Agent.—For purposes of this section, the term “herbicide agent” has the meaning given such term in section 1821(d) of this title.
Related references
- 38 USC § 1110: Wartime disability compensation eligibility
- 38 USC § 1113: When a VA Presumption Can Be Rebutted
- 38 USC § 1116: Agent Orange and Herbicide Presumptions
- 38 USC § 5107: Benefit of the doubt in VA claims
- 38 CFR § 3.159: VA duty to assist: records and examinations
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