South Korea has begun to pay pensions to its low-income elderly citizens with dual citizenship, an official said Tuesday, a move that stirred up controversy on whether Seoul should use taxpayers‘ money to support those who have spent most of their lives in foreign countries.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it doles out up to 97,000 won ($85) per month to elderly people who are qualified for the elderly pensions under a 2011 law that allows those aged 65 and over who previously held South Korean citizenship to regain it while holding onto their current citizenship.

The ministry said recipients of the elderly pension must live in South Korea and obtain registration numbers -- the South Korean equivalent of U.S. social security numbers.

“Those who live in foreign countries are not eligible for the pensions,” said Kim Young-sig, a ministry official handling the issue.

South Korea began to pay pensions to its low-income elderly citizens in 2008 while introducing the same policy to those who have dual citizenship in 2011.

Last year, South Korea spent more than 4 trillion won to pay the pensions to more than 3.93 million elderly South Koreans, said Kim

He said the ministry has no data on how many low-income elderly citizens with dual citizenship received the pensions.

A total of 2,844 people aged 65 and above were allowed to hold dual citizenship, according to the Justice Ministry. But it remains unclear whether all of them applied for the elderly pensions.

A 2012 survey by the National Pension Research Institute found that 59.3 percent of 4,105 households said they do not have the economic means to remain independent while 40.7 percent said they can support themselves. The institute is affiliated with South Korea’s National Pension Service, the world‘s fourth-largest pension fund.

South Korea is fast becoming an aged society, in which more than 14 percent of the population is 65 or older. Korea became an aging society in 2000, when the ratio exceeded 7 percent. (Yonhap News)