President Lee Orders Review of Domestic Residency Requirement for Basic Pension: "A Matter of Principle"

Addressing Loopholes in Retroactive National Pension Contributions by Foreigners
Comprehensive Review of Social Security and Government Subsidy Programs
"All Institutional Loopholes Must Be Identified and Addressed"

Full Efforts Ordered f

President Lee Jae-myung has instructed revisions to the current system that allows foreigners who acquire Korean citizenship to receive the basic pension as long as they meet income and asset requirements, regardless of how soon after naturalization this occurs. He ordered a review of measures that would establish a minimum residency period in Korea before eligibility for the basic pension. Additionally, President Lee directed a swift correction of a legal loophole that enables foreigners to secure national pension eligibility by enrolling for a short period and then making lump-sum retroactive payments (known as catch-up payments) for past insurance premiums.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the Senior Secretary Meeting held at the Blue House on September 3, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Presiding over a Senior Secretary Meeting at the Blue House on September 3, 2026, President Lee addressed the issue of the basic pension scheme: "Currently, if someone meets the income and asset requirements, they can receive the basic pension regardless of when they acquired citizenship. There's been controversy over whether it is appropriate to select someone who acquired citizenship just a month ago and doesn't meet the income and asset thresholds as a basic pension recipient," he said.

President Lee continued, "To give an extreme example, a person could have spent their entire life as a foreigner, acquire citizenship late in life, and immediately receive the same basic pension. While such cases may not be common, I believe this is not an issue of frequency, but a matter of principle." He added, "The very existence of this gap will inevitably be seen as unfair discrimination by the vast majority of Korean citizens who have diligently fulfilled their tax obligations as citizens."

He therefore instructed a comprehensive review of overseas precedents and related bills introduced in the National Assembly to consider requiring a certain period of domestic residency to receive the basic pension. "In most countries, as in ours, where the basic pension is funded by taxes, eligibility requirements usually include a period of domestic residency," he said. "We must thoroughly review overseas examples and domestic research to consider system improvements such as establishing a minimum necessary residency period in Korea."

President Lee also ordered improvements to the recent issue regarding foreigners making catch-up payments to the national pension system. "There have been concerns about foreigners joining the national pension for just a month, then making retroactive payments for 119 months to receive a pension. We are working quickly to correct this legal insufficiency," he stated.

Taking this controversy as an opportunity, President Lee instructed a review not only of the national and basic pension schemes, but also of loopholes across social security systems and programs subsidized by the national budget. "Social security systems, funded by resources provided collectively by the people, must be designed with precision and fairness so that no one benefits unjustly or suffers unreasonable losses," he said.

He added, "Through this opportunity, we should thoroughly and systematically examine whether there are institutional loopholes in other social security schemes and subsidized programs that contradict the principles of common sense and fairness held by the people. If such shortcomings are found, they should be corrected."

In addition, during the same meeting, President Lee ordered a full-scale search for those missing in the recent tugboat capsizing off the coast of Busan, as well as a precise investigation into the cause of the accident and the formulation of measures to prevent recurrence. Regarding the recent heavy rains, he stressed that late summer and early autumn downpours are recurring, and called for maximum efforts to prevent flood damage, including to farms. For the World Fireworks Festival and other large-scale autumn events scheduled for this weekend in Yeouido, he said, "There must be no negligence whatsoever in safety planning," and ordered a review of crowd management and facility safety measures.

Addressing recent incidents involving the police, President Lee called for a comprehensive overhaul of the law enforcement system. "The recent consecutive incidents have revealed significant vulnerabilities in our policing. The police must take these incidents as a lesson and commit to thorough internal reform and institutional improvement," he said. Regarding the upcoming opening of the Prosecution Office and the Serious Crime Investigation Agency in a month, he emphasized, "The goal of all reform is the actual improvement of people's lives. Reform is not just a phrase in the law, but something that must be realized and evaluated in the everyday lives of our citizens."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.