Gov't Launches Comprehensive Emergency Inspection of Social Security Systems Amid Foreigner Pension Fairness Controversy

Triggered by the controversy over fairness regarding foreigners receiving pensions and other benefits, the government has launched an emergency inspection to identify loopholes across major social security systems, including basic pensions, emergency welfare, and national health insurance.

Following President Lee Jae-myung's directive to plug institutional loopholes so that no one unfairly benefits or suffers unreasonable disadvantages under the social security system, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is examining foreigner eligibility requirements and blind spots across various welfare systems by department.

According to political circles, President Lee recently emphasized during a cabinet meeting and a Blue House senior secretaries meeting that "social security systems operated with resources jointly prepared by the public must be designed precisely and fairly so that no one unfairly gains or the public suffers unreasonable disadvantages."

He continued, "Regardless of how many actual cases there are, the mere existence of institutional gaps is inevitably perceived as unreasonable discrimination by the majority of citizens who faithfully fulfill their tax obligations," and instructed authorities to thoroughly review and supplement institutional loopholes related to foreigner benefit reception.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is reviewing major welfare systems overall by department, including the National Basic Living Security Scheme, emergency welfare, basic pensions, the National Pension Service, health insurance, and elderly long-term care insurance.

Authorities previously significantly tightened the requirements for foreigners' retroactive lump-sum contributions (chunap) to the national pension—which had been a subject of controversy—from merely maintaining a residency status to verifying actual domestic residence for 15 days or more per month.

Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong also stated that since the national pension is a system designed to guarantee retirement income for citizens residing in the country, the ministry will exert all efforts to prevent abusive cases such as receiving pensions after short-term domestic residence.

While pushing to supplement related systems—such as a bill pending in the National Assembly for two years that would establish a minimum domestic residency period for basic pension recipients—the government also plans to review improvement measures for issues where fairness controversies have been raised, such as the imposition of health insurance premiums on foreign daily wage workers, while taking into account the burden on low-income groups.

(Photo: Provided by the Blue House Press Corps, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.