The National Pension Service (NPS; ) is a public

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

fund in South Korea. It is the third largest in the world with over $800 billion in assets, and is the largest investor in South Korea. The system functions as part of a national social security framework, receiving insurance premiums from subscribers, employers, and the state, and providing old-age pensions, survivors' pensions, and disability pensions—thereby contributing to the stability of the state. It is designed to support individuals who have become non-economically active due to old age. Countries like

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and the

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also operate similar centralized systems. A notable difference is that, unlike sovereign wealth funds, only a few countries—including Korea and Japan—invest national pensions into stock markets. Given the fund's size (over ₩500 trillion), it often appears in financial news as a kind of “relief pitcher” during market volatility. It is looking to buy a portfolio of blue-chip stocks from emerging markets. On January 30, 2017, NPS opened up an office in New York City's One Vanderbilt. Since 2022, Tae-Hyun Kim is the CEO of the fund. In May 2024, NPS announced its intention to aim for a 65% ratio of risky assets. As of 2024, out of ₩1,101 trillion the fund had invested ₩597 trillion in assets outside Korea and ₩504 trillion domestically. In June 2024, NPS and the Korean Central Bank agreed to expand their currency swap line from $35 billion to $50 billion. In December 2024, the swap line was expanded to $65 billion. The NPS is currently in annual surplus, recent surpluses have been between 1% and 5% of GDP.

Timeline

* December, 1986 – Promulgated the Nation Pension Act * September, 1987 – Established the National Pension Corporation * January, 1988 – Implemented the national pension system (Limited to workplaces with 10 or more full-time employees) * January, 1992 – Compulsory coverage included workplaces with five or more full-time employees * January, 1993 – Commenced Special Old-age Pension benefit payment * April, 1995 – Established the National Pension Research Institute * July, 1995 – Compulsory coverage was extended to farmers and fishermen in rural areas * August, 1995 – Compulsory coverage was extended to workplace-based foreigners * April, 1999 – Compulsory coverage expanded to majority population in Korea (compulsory coverage in urban areas) * November, 1999 – Launched the National Pension Fund Management Center * July, 2003~2006 – Gradually expanded compulsory coverage to corporations and workplaces with less than five full-time employees * July, 2007 – Renamed as the "National Pension Service" * May, 2009 – Commenced the Retirement Planning Service * May, 2009 – Launched NPS International Service Center * January, 2011 – Established NPS International Center (Integrated the former International Cooperation Department and the NPS International Service Center) * January, 2011 – Consigned the affairs in relation to collection of contribution to the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) * April, 2011 – Implemented a system for assessment and registration of the disabled (all levels), in accordance with the Welfare of Disabled Persons Act * October, 2011 – Commenced support programs for the disabled * December, 2012 – Determined the scope of income of an insured under the National Basic Living Security Act * July, 2014 – Support for the Basic Pension operation * January, 2015 – NPS headquarters relocation to

Jeonju Jeonju (, , ) is the capital and List of cities in South Korea, largest city of North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is both urban and rural due to the closeness of Wanju County which almost entirely surrounds Jeonju (Wanju County has many resi ...

* December, 2015 – Implementation of Retirement Planning Service * February, 2017 – NPSIM (National Pension Service Investment Management) relocation to

Solvency

The scheme is currently in annual surplus. According to projections published 27 January 2023 by the NPS, at the current contribution rates and replacement rate, surpluses are projected to remain until 2041, and the fund to remain solvent until 2055. Due to demographic changes projected to continue, in order for the scheme to remain solvent in the long term it is suggested that, in the next few years, there be an adjustment to the contribution rate somewhere between 1 and 2%.

Notes

External links

National Pension Service(In English)
{{SouthKorea-company-stub Companies based in Seoul Financial services companies of South Korea Sovereign wealth funds Government-owned companies of South Korea 1987 establishments in South Korea Public pension funds