It has been revealed that foreigners who work for just one month in Korea, make retroactive lump-sum payments for 119 months of National Pension premiums, and receive old-age pensions for life can even register their spouses, children, and parents residing abroad as dependents to receive additional pension benefits.

The controversy over "retroactive National Pension payments for foreigners" is spreading beyond individual pensions to supporting overseas families.

The National Pension Service pays an additional dependent family pension, which is a type of family allowance, to old-age pension recipients who have a spouse they financially support, children under the age of 19, or parents aged 63 or older.

As of January 2026, the payment amounts are 306,630 won per year for a spouse, and 204,360 won per year per person for children under 19 or parents aged 63 or older.

The problem is that the dependent family pension applies equally to foreign recipients as well as domestic citizens.

Ultimately, this creates a structure where foreigners residing abroad who receive old-age pensions can register dependent family members to increase the monthly pension amount they receive.

Consequently, it has been reported that cases of Chinese nationals who obtained eligibility for old-age pensions through retroactive payments subsequently applying for dependent family pensions are continuing.

Assuming they support one parent, one spouse, and one child, they can receive an additional 715,350 won per year on top of their old-age pension.

The National Pension also places no separate restrictions on the number of eligible dependent family members.

Criticism has been raised that this dependent family pension payment structure does not align with the purpose of the system.

Critics point out whether it is appropriate to use pension funds created by citizens' contributions to pay money in the nature of family allowances even to the spouses and children of foreigners who have never contributed to the South Korean economy through taxes or labor.

(Reported by Jung Da-eun, Video by Jang Yu-jin, Design by Yang Hye-min, Produced by SBS Digital News)