No. of foreign nationals on old-age pension crosses 10,000

Over 10,000 foreign nationals are receiving South Korea's Old-age Pension, the main benefit provision of the country's national pension system, a figure that has continuously increased since 2019, data showed Monday.

Subscribers to the mandatory pension become eligible for benefits when they fulfill two conditions: They must have paid premiums for at least 10 years and reached the pension age, which is currently 63 for the Old-age Pension, and 58 for a reduced Early Old-age Pension.

According to National Pension Service data submitted to Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the ruling People's Power Party, a total of 26.8 billion won ($19.4 million) was granted to 10,410 foreign nationals in the first half of 2024.

The number of such recipients has increased from 3,421 tallied in 2019 to surpass 10,000 for the first time this year.

Chinese nationals accounted for 53.5 percent of them, and each received an average of 1.81 million won for the six months.

The nationalities accounting for the next biggest shares were American, Canadian, Taiwanese and Japanese with 21.9, 8.3, 5.6 and 4.1 percent, respectively, receiving 3.59 million, 3.96 million, 3.24 million and 2.69 million on average during the period.

When it comes to the Survivor Pension, which is given to the bereaved family of a deceased pensioner, 4,020 foreign nationals received 8.11 billion won during the period.

For this benefit, Chinese nationals also made up the biggest proportion of recipients, followed by Vietnamese, American and Japanese.

The number of foreign nationals subscribed to the pension has increased to 455,839 as of June, showing growth of over 40 percent from 321,948 in 2019. Of the total, Chinese nationals took up the largest portion at 42.6 percent.

Residents of South Korea aged from 18 to 60, including foreign nationals, are obliged to subscribe to the pension system. However, foreign nationals without income or holding certain kinds of visas, such as student and diplomat visas, are exempt.

Nationals of countries whose public pensions do not cover Korean nationals are also not bound to Korea’s public pension.