[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Only Half of Survivor Pension Paid Due to Possible Workers' Compensation Claim... Up to 64 Months for the Rest

Data from Rep. Lee Sujin's Office

Over the Past Five Years: 1,909 Survivor Pension Cases, 329 Disability Pension Cases

NPS Considers Paying Benefits Upfront and Settling Against Injury Compensation

More than 2,200 cases have been recorded over the past five years in which people received only half of their National Pension survivor or disability pension because they might be eligible for compensation for an industrial accident or other disaster. After the denial of industrial accident compensation or other matters was finalized, it took up to 64 months for the remaining half of a survivor pension to be paid and up to 61 months for a disability pension.

According to data on “the status of priority overlapping benefit adjustments for survivor and disability pensions” submitted by the National Pension Service (NPS) to Lee Sujin, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, from 2021 through June this year, there were 1,909 cases involving survivor pensions and 329 involving disability pensions in which recipients initially received only 50% of their benefits before eligibility for disaster compensation was determined, and were paid the remainder afterward.

Lee Sujin, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea. [Photo provided by her office]

Under the NPS’s internal guidelines, priority overlapping benefit adjustment means that when someone may be eligible for compensation for an industrial accident or other disaster, only 50% of their survivor or disability pension is paid initially until their eligibility is confirmed.

For those later found ineligible for overlapping benefits, the average time to receive the remaining half was 13.7 months for survivor pensions and 14.4 months for disability pensions. The longest waits were 64 months and 61 months, respectively.

The amounts paid late totaled 9.373 billion won: 6.563 billion won in survivor pensions and 2.81 billion won in disability pensions.

On October 2, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission proposed measures to improve the “National Pension overlapping benefit adjustment system” and recommended that the NPS and the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service improve the system. In an internal review submitted to Lee’s office, the NPS said it was considering, as an alternative, paying the full pension first and then deducting any amount to be recovered from the disaster compensation once it had been determined.

“It is necessary to adjust benefits when entitlements under different laws arise simultaneously for the same reason, but it is not reasonable to make adjustments merely because there is a ‘possibility’ [of receiving other compensation],” Lee said. “The system needs to be improved, including by revising the relevant guidelines, so that the livelihoods of survivor and disability pension recipients and their families are not undermined.”

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