South Korea, country page
Researched and sourced 9 August 2026, the date the country lists below were read.
Start here
$99
Country Pension Identification Report, South Korea
Within 24 to 48 hours
Full refund if we find nothing material.
Enhanced Pension Identification Report, $499: your Action Pack, a complete request pack for every fund we identify, written in your voice and ready to send, delivered within five working days of your intake form. Global Pension Identification Report, $799: the same across every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover, within ten working days. Full refund if we find nothing material, decided at identification.
At the Country Report you contact the administrators yourself, using the routes in your report. On Enhanced and Global: We stay with your case after delivery. If an administrator asks you a question, refuses, or simply does not reply, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what to send next. That continues until every fund we identified has answered you, or the route is exhausted and we say so plainly.
Identification only. We do not open credential-protected accounts, and we do not transfer, negotiate, or make decisions regarding any pension. Everything below is the free official route, and it stays free: you are welcome to use it instead.
NPS states a foreign insured person is entitled if their country grants Korean nationals a corresponding benefit, or if a social security agreement on the lump-sum refund exists between their home country and Korea, or for an insured period held on an E-8, E-9 or H-2 visa. The default is non-payment.
Belize for at least a six-month insured period.
Grenada, Jordan, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Thailand, Bhutan, Laos for at least a one-year insured period.
Ghana, Sri Lanka, Bermuda, Malaysia, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Trinidad and Tobago, Sudan, Colombia, Vanuatu, Tunisia, Uganda, Cambodia, Solomon Is. regardless of insured period.
Germany, USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, India, Turkey, Switzerland, Brazil, Peru, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Croatia, Uruguay, Philippines, Argentina.
These lists move. The live NPS page governs on the day of claim.
We could not resolve whether the reciprocity table covers all nationals of those countries or only E-8, E-9 and H-2 holders, so nobody should be told they do not qualify on that basis.
The NPS foreigner page says that if a foreigner entitled to a Lump-sum Refund does not apply within five years after becoming entitled, extinctive prescription is completed and the payment will not be made, and it gives further windows of ten years after reaching age 60 and five years after death for survivors. The NPS guide we label here as the 2018 guide ties becoming entitled to the departure date. We give the five-year figure only as what that NPS foreigner page says: we have not verified it against the statute, because the statute site could not be read, an exact-phrase match suggests the provision may say ten years, and the position is unresolved. So if more than five years have passed, apply anyway and ask NPS in writing to state the prescription position on your case.
nps.or.kr, lump-sum refund for foreigners, nps.or.kr, English guide, PDF
The document is the Certificate of Insured Details for Pension Calculation. NPS describes it as the total contribution history and states that eligible applicants are people with a history of paying National Pension contributions, explicitly including those who have lost membership. Said plainly: losing membership does not remove that right, and no Korean digital certificate is needed.
The channels listed there include post, fax and telephone, which is what works from abroad.
nps.or.kr, Certificate of Insured Details for Pension Calculation
NPS states that people who may not acquire eligibility under one country's system because of an insufficient period of coverage can acquire it by totalizing periods of coverage in both countries, and that nationals of agreement countries are treated equally with Korean nationals for a lump-sum refund as well as pension benefits, while everyone else falls under the reciprocity rule.
nps.or.kr, social security agreements overview, nps.or.kr, effects of social security agreements
Three or four Korean years look worthless against a ten-year minimum. For a national of a totalization country they may instead combine with the home-country record into a lifelong Korean pension, which taking the refund gives up.
Korea has two kinds of agreement, totalizing or contribution-exemption only. We could not read the per-country pages, so NPS must confirm which applies. We label no country either way.
The old-age pension needs an insured period of ten years, 120 months. The refund is the mirror of that, payable where someone with under ten years reaches 60, dies, or loses nationality or emigrates.
Aggregation is the totalization route above. We could not confirm whether a minimum Korean period is needed before totalization, so ask, do not assume.
Ask for the Certificate of Insured Details for Pension Calculation, and a written statement of whether you are recorded as entitled to a refund and on which gateway.
Identifier: for a foreign national the alien registration number, and for Korean and former Korean nationals the resident registration number. NPS states that foreigners residing in Korea must join on the same footing as Korean nationals, aged 18 or over and under 60, as employer or employee.
nps.or.kr, membership, nps.or.kr, certificate of insured details
Portal. The NPS English site linked above, every current English address being an /eng/ path ending .do.
With no Korean credentials. Use post, fax or telephone.
Cost. A free government process, with no fee published on any page we read. The claimant meets only notarisation or apostille, postage and remittance charges. We state no certificate fee.
Language. NPS publishes an English site and a multilingual Foreigner's Call Center.
NPS gives three refund routes: by post from abroad, through an agent abroad, or in Korea before departure on material evidence of departure within one month. The application goes with your passport, bank account proof and remittance application, notarized or apostilled.
Headquarters, Center for International Affairs
Kukmin-Yeonkum Building 6th Floor, 180, Giji-ro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonbuk-do, Korea, zip code 54870
Center for International Pension Support, Seoul
Agreement implementation 02-6960-3211 to 3215
Beneficiary support 02-6960-3241 to 3248
Fax 02-3485-2933
Foreigner's Call Center 02-6960-3231 to 3234
The 1355 line is domestic-only. NPS publishes no international dialling format, and office hours could not be confirmed. NPS publishes phone, fax and postal contacts only; no email address appears on any official page we read.
We would rather tell you there is nothing than waste your time.
Sometimes, through the Lump-sum Refund, and there are three gateways. NPS states a foreign insured person is entitled if their country grants Korean nationals a corresponding benefit, or if a social security agreement on the lump-sum refund exists between their home country and Korea, or for an insured period held on an E-8, E-9 or H-2 visa. The default is non-payment. The country lists were read on 9 August 2026, they move, and the live NPS page governs on the day of claim.
Yes. The document is the Certificate of Insured Details for Pension Calculation, which NPS describes as the total contribution history, and NPS states eligible applicants are people with a history of paying National Pension contributions, explicitly including those who have lost membership. Losing membership does not remove that right, and no Korean digital certificate is needed. The channels listed there include post, fax and telephone, which is what works from abroad.
The NPS foreigner page says that if a foreigner entitled to a Lump-sum Refund does not apply within five years after becoming entitled, extinctive prescription is completed and the payment will not be made, and it gives further windows of ten years after reaching age 60 and five years after death for survivors. The NPS guide we label here as the 2018 guide ties becoming entitled to the departure date. We give the five-year figure only as what that NPS foreigner page says: we have not verified it against the statute, because the statute site could not be read, an exact-phrase match suggests the provision may say ten years, and the position is unresolved. So if more than five years have passed, apply anyway and ask NPS in writing to state the prescription position on your case.
Possibly a great deal. The old-age pension needs an insured period of ten years, 120 months, but NPS states that people who may not acquire eligibility under one country's system because of an insufficient period of coverage can acquire it by totalizing periods of coverage in both countries. So three or four Korean years look worthless against a ten-year minimum, yet for a national of a totalization country they may combine with the home-country record into a lifelong Korean pension, which taking the refund gives up. Korea has two kinds of agreement, totalizing or contribution-exemption only, and we could not read the per-country pages, so NPS must confirm which applies to your country. We could not confirm whether a minimum Korean period is needed before totalization either, so ask, do not assume.
Yes. We take South Korean cases on a per-client basis. A Country Pension Identification Report is $99 and comes back within 24 to 48 hours, with a full refund if we find nothing material. Everything on this page stays free, and you are welcome to use the official route yourself instead.
Start here
$99
Country Pension Identification Report, South Korea
Within 24 to 48 hours
Full refund if we find nothing material.
Enhanced Pension Identification Report, $499: your Action Pack, a complete request pack for every fund we identify, written in your voice and ready to send, delivered within five working days of your intake form. Global Pension Identification Report, $799: the same across every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover, within ten working days. Full refund if we find nothing material, decided at identification.
At the Country Report you contact the administrators yourself, using the routes in your report. On Enhanced and Global: We stay with your case after delivery. If an administrator asks you a question, refuses, or simply does not reply, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what to send next. That continues until every fund we identified has answered you, or the route is exhausted and we say so plainly.
Identification only. We do not open credential-protected accounts, and we do not transfer, negotiate, or make decisions regarding any pension. Everything below is the free official route, and it stays free: you are welcome to use it instead.
Important Information
PensionHunter is a research and administrative assistance service only. We search pension registries and employer records to identify whether pension entitlements may exist in your name, we do not provide financial advice, manage pension funds, arrange pension transfers, or assist with claiming or accessing pension funds.
PensionHunter is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or any equivalent financial-services or pensions regulator in your jurisdiction. Our service is limited to research and information provision. We charge a fixed research fee paid in advance, Full refund if we find nothing material.
All decisions about your pension, including whether to contact providers, transfer funds, or take any other action, remain entirely yours. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified independent financial adviser regulated in your jurisdiction before making any decisions about any pension we locate.