"My taxes for a Chinese family?" Foreigners' national pension system faces another loophole as benefits extend to overseas dependents

[Financial News] A controversy is growing after it was reported that a foreigner who worked in South Korea for just one month can make retroactive contributions for 119 months of National Pension Service (NPS) premiums and receive an old-age pension for life. It has now emerged that the same person can also register a spouse, children and parents as dependents and receive additional pension benefits, further fueling criticism over loopholes in the pension system for foreigners.

According to a report by Asia Economy on the 27th, more Chinese nationals who recently became eligible for an old-age pension through retroactive payments have also been applying for dependent family pension benefits.
The National Pension Service (NPS) provides an additional benefit, similar to a family allowance, to old-age pension recipients who have a spouse, children under 19, or parents aged 63 or older who depend on them for support. As of January 2026, the annual payment is 306,630 won for a spouse and 204,360 won per child under 19 or parent aged 63 or older.
The problem is that this dependent family pension also applies to foreign recipients if certain requirements are met. In particular, there appears to be no clear basis for excluding registered family members even if they do not actually live in South Korea or have no record of entering the country. In other words, foreigners may be able to increase their monthly pension payments by registering dependents.
If a recipient supports one parent, one spouse and one child, they can receive an additional 715,350 won a year in dependent family pension benefits, separate from the old-age pension. These benefits rise each year at the same rate as the basic pension amount, and they increased by 2.1% this year from a year earlier. Notably, the NPS does not set a separate cap on the number of people eligible for dependent family pension benefits, so the more qualifying family members a recipient has, the larger the additional pension payment can become.
There are also reports that some within the NPS believe the current payment structure for dependent family pensions does not align with the system’s original purpose. The concern is whether it is appropriate to pay a family-allowance-style pension to the relatives of foreign recipients who have never worked or paid taxes in South Korea.

When foreign recipients receive their pensions in overseas bank accounts, they also incur international remittance fees and currency exchange costs. Another limitation is that it is difficult to verify whether a dependent family member living abroad is still in a genuine support relationship with the recipient.
An NPS official told the media, "There is considerable complaint-related stress in the process of requesting documents needed to prove a genuine support relationship." It was also reported that some people have even threatened to share the branch office on online communities if their requests are denied.
As the issue became public, calls have grown among the public for a broader overhaul of the pension system for foreigners.
In response, President Lee Jae-myung said at a State Council meeting on the 25th that "when loopholes are found, it is necessary to fill them as quickly as possible," while the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) is reviewing ways to strengthen eligibility rules for enrollment, retroactive payments and pension benefits after examining how foreigners use the retroactive payment system and looking at overseas cases.
[email protected] Ahn Ga-eul Reporter