National pension covering 3.77 million people

The National Pension Fund, on its 29th year of operation this year, is providing benefits to nearly 4 million people in South Korea, its records showed Thursday.

The pension program was adopted in January 1988 to guarantee income for the elderly after retirement and to provide coverage for disabilities and surviving family members. The number of recipients totaled 3.77 million in October 2015. 

As of the end of last year, a 65-year-old resident of Gwangju, southwest of Seoul, was getting the largest monthly payment of 1.87 million won ($1,598) after subscribing for 22 years.

Excluding the extra added from such deferment, a resident of Ansan, southwest of Seoul, was receiving the biggest sum of 1.54 million after 26 years of subscription.

The oldest recipient was a 108-year-old living in Seoul, getting coverage after the death of a child who had subscribed to the national pension. There were 47 other recipients of the pension aged 100 or over, 39 of them women.

The NPS said there were 113 long-term recipients being covered for more than 323 months, including payments to surviving families.

The highest payment overall was claimed by a 66-year-old in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, who claimed 240 million won in disability coverage over 19 years and five months.

The biggest sum for an old-age pension was 130 million won for a resident of Seoul.

Experts say South Korea’s aging population is putting a strain on the pension system as the number of senior citizens grows faster than the working age population due to the chronically low birthrate. They predict that the NPS will run out of resources in as early as 2052.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)