"Working for Just a Month, Receiving a Pension Every Month?"... The Reality of Foreigners Getting "Lifetime Pensions"

Foreigners who join the National Pension Service for just a single month in South Korea, pay their past insurance premiums in a lump sum, and receive old-age pensions every month for the rest of their lives are emerging in succession.

Criticism is rising that the retroactive contribution system—originally introduced to guarantee retirement income for citizens and bridge blind spots such as career-interrupted full-time homemakers—is being utilized as a means for foreigners to receive pensions.

Retroactive contribution is a system that allows individuals to make retrospective payments for periods of payment exemption when they could not pay premiums due to unemployment or business suspension, or periods where subscription history was cut off due to marriage and childbirth.

The problem is that foreign subscribers also have eligible periods for retroactive contributions, and if they were registered as foreigners during those past periods, they can apply for retroactive contributions without restriction within a range of less than 10 years.

Recently, applications for retroactive contributions have steadily increased, centered particularly around ethnic Korean Chinese, leading to a concurrent rise in old-age pension recipients.

In fact, numerous cases have been confirmed at local branches of the National Pension Service where individuals met the 10-year requirement to receive a pension by paying large sums of retroactive premiums after short-term enrollment.

A Chinese national, Mr. A, entered the country on a visiting employment visa, enrolled at a workplace for just one month, and reached the age of 60.

Initially subject to a lump-sum refund to get back the money he had paid, he realized that receiving a pension was more advantageous, paid 119 months of retroactive insurance premiums all at once, and is currently receiving a monthly pension.

Another Chinese national, Mr. B, also enrolled for one month as a daily construction worker, left the country and received a lump-sum refund, re-entered the country, enrolled for another month, returned the previously received refund, and made 119 months of retroactive payments to receive a pension.

Furthermore, a Chinese national with permanent residency, Mr. C, enrolled for 9 months, made retroactive payments for 128 months, applied for an early old-age pension, and is currently residing in China while receiving the pension.

As the number of foreigners meeting the eligibility period for pension receipt by utilizing the refund and retroactive contribution systems increases, voices of concern are growing over potential fund outflows due to excessive benefits and limitations in post-management.

Some point out that in the case of overseas-residing recipients, loopholes may arise, such as the wrongful payment of old-age pensions due to failing to timely identify whether a recipient has passed away.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Lee Yu-jin | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.