President Lee Jae-myung stated that institutional improvements are necessary, such as establishing a minimum domestic residence period for foreigners, in response to controversies surrounding foreign residents exploiting loopholes to receive the National Pension and basic pensions.

Presiding over a senior aides meeting at the presidential office on this day (the 3rd), President Lee brought up the so-called "foreigner retroactive payment controversy," in which a foreigner who worked in South Korea for just one month makes a lump-sum retroactive payment for 119 months of National Pension premiums to receive pensions for life.

He emphasized, "Social security systems operated with resources prepared by the public must be designed fairly so that no one unjustly profits or suffers unreasonable losses."

Pointing out that similar issues have been raised regarding the receipt of basic pensions, President Lee noted, "It is said that basic pensions are paid as long as income and property requirements are met, regardless of when [foreigners] acquired their nationality." He added, "Controversy is arising over whether this is truly justified."

He explained, "To take an extreme example, if someone lives as a foreigner their entire life, acquires nationality later on, and resides in the country, they receive the exact same basic pension."

President Lee pointed out, "This [loophole exploitation] is not a matter of the number of cases being large or small, but a matter of principle," adding, "The mere existence of such gaps is bound to be perceived by the public as unreasonable discrimination."

He instructed, "We should thoroughly review overseas cases and domestic research findings to consider institutional improvements, such as establishing a minimum required domestic residence period."

Furthermore, he remarked, "I hope that this opportunity will be used to thoroughly examine whether there are any flaws across other social security systems and government-subsidized projects that go against public common sense or the principle of fairness."

(Photo: Yonhap News)