The government will provide special pensions to the families of the two diplomats assassinated in Iraq in November while en route to a conference on reconstruction work, according to government sources.

The National Personnel Authority has conveyed the decision to the Foreign Ministry, saying special benefits must be offered for the deaths of Katsuhiko Oku and Masamori Inoue because they were killed while carrying out their official duties.

Since the two were working under highly dangerous conditions, the authority has decided the pensions will be 50 percent more than the annuity normally given to families of public officials who die on the job.

The pensions are expected to be provided to the families within a month after they make their applications.

The authority will decide the final amount of the benefits in accordance with their salaries paid three months before their deaths and the number of their family members, the sources said.

Oku, a 45-year-old counselor at the Japanese Embassy in London, and Inoue, a 30-year-old third secretary at the embassy in Baghdad, were ambushed and killed near Tikrit, about 150 km north of Baghdad, on Nov. 29 while they were heading for the conference.

Oku was posthumously promoted to ambassador and Inoue to first secretary.

Their Iraqi driver, a longtime employee of the embassy, was also killed.