The number of foreign residents in South Korea subscribing to the country's national pension program has reached over 260,000, but the number represents only a fraction of foreigners here, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

As of end-May, the number of subscribers with foreign citizenship came to 264,651, the highest number since the national pension program was launched in 1988, Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the ruling Saenuri Party said, citing related data from the National Pension Service.


The government began requiring all South Korean citizens over the age of 18 and under the age of 60 to subscribe to the state-run program in 1999, but foreign residents are not required to do so, with most of those currently subscribing to the program are apparently doing so on their own.

Still, the number of foreign subscribers represents only about 15 percent of some 1.74 million foreign residents here, the lawmaker noted, urging stepped up efforts to promote subscription by foreign residents.

By nationality, more than half of all foreign subscribers or 133,357 held Chinese citizenship while 24,690 were Indonesians.

In terms of recipients, 1,247 American citizens were receiving monthly pension allowances as of end-May, accounting for over 32 percent of the total 3,859 foreign recipients. (Yonhap)