Korean Public Pension Linkage Period & Application Calculator

Review coverage separated across Korean pension schemes

Moving between a private employer and government, a private school or another occupational system can leave pension coverage in separate schemes.
Before choosing a lump sum because neither record appears long enough, review whether public pension linkage is available.
This calculator organizes periods and application questions under Korean 2026 rules; it does not calculate a monthly pension or award entitlement.

Linkage is optional and does not happen automatically.
Meeting a period threshold, receiving linkage approval, reaching pension age and filing a benefit claim are separate steps.
A favorable month count should prompt a review of those steps, not an assumption that payments will begin immediately.

Use credited months from agency records

Employment dates alone do not establish contribution months.
Exemptions, unpaid contributions, retroactive payments and lump-sum restoration can change a record.
Obtain National Pension coverage statements and the relevant occupational service records, then enter the first and last credited month of each continuous period.
This tool deliberately does not turn employment days into an official contribution record.

When the minimum is 120 or 240 months

Article 10 of the Pension Linkage Act sets a general ten-year minimum, with twenty years when Military Pension service is included.
The 2021 amendment’s addendum applies the ten-year rule to people retiring from an occupational institution from 2016-01-02.
The same total can therefore produce a different shortfall depending on military coverage and retirement history.

The ordinary calculation assumes one transition between National Pension and one occupational scheme.
Multiple occupational schemes, repeated transitions, service aggregation or mixed old and new retirement regimes need individual review.
Uncheck the simple-history confirmation in those cases; use the arithmetic record for consultation while indicative start months are withheld.

How overlaps and excluded periods are handled

Article 7 excludes National Pension periods under Articles 13, 18 and 19 of the National Pension Act: continued voluntary enrollment, military-service credits and childbirth credits.
Exclusion from this minimum-period test does not mean the period is irrelevant to every pension calculation.
Benefit-amount provisions differ from linkage-period provisions, so this calculator keeps them separate.

Paying into two schemes in the same calendar month does not produce two months toward the linkage minimum.
Scheme subtotals can overlap and should not simply be added again.
The treatment of overlapping contributions in benefit amounts is separate and is not estimated here.

An excluded row affects only its selected scheme.
Excluding a National Pension month does not erase a valid occupational month occurring at the same time.
The union of the remaining records determines the final combined count.

Separate lump-sum receipt, repayment and restoration

Receiving an occupational lump sum does not automatically end every linkage option.
Article 8 provides a repayment route, but paying money and obtaining confirmation that coverage has been restored are distinct facts.
For a National Pension refund, also confirm personal repayment eligibility and the actual restored record with the agency.

• Not received: include the credited periods that were not paid out as a lump sum.
  
• Unrepaid / paying installments: exclude the row from the current candidate total and withhold start months.
  This conservative worksheet treatment does not determine the legal rights of an applicant paying installments.
  
• Repaid and restoration confirmed: enter the restored period and repayment-completion date.
  The indicative completion month will not precede that repayment month.
  

Application timing is separate from pension age

The official guide’s five-year language should not be converted into a universal final application deadline.
Article 8 concerns application before the relevant benefit rights expire, and Article 8-3 addresses interruption of limitation by an application.
This calculator shows a fifth-retirement-anniversary consultation reference only for the unpaid occupational-retirement case.
It is not a legal deadline adjusted for holidays, limitation interruption or individual exceptions; passing it does not automatically disqualify a person.

The general transition boundary is 2009-08-07, with a special route for National Pension-to-occupational moves from 2007-07-23.
Another transitional route concerns people covered or employed on 2009-02-06, or newly enrolled / re-enrolled afterward, who moved after promulgation.
Where that coverage history is unconfirmed, automatic application of the exception is withheld.
Earlier or repeated moves should not be assessed using just one recent date.

Birth cohorts and indicative first payment months

The original addendum’s Article 3 supplies these cohort ages.
Article 16 starts payment from the month following the qualifying event.
The National Pension reference is therefore the month after the later of the age month and the entered-period completion month.
For a February 29 birth reaching the relevant age in a non-leap year, the tool withholds start months pending agency confirmation of the age date.

An occupational scheme can have a later entitlement age.
Its first-month reference remains withheld if its agency-confirmed entitlement date is missing or the person is still employed under that scheme.
When supplied, the calculator compares the occupational entitlement month, retirement month and common age / period requirements, then shows the following month.
Enter the date the right arises, not the first bank deposit date.

A past reference month does not establish that all arrears are payable.
Approval, actual repayment or retroactive-payment processing, a separate benefit claim, limitation and income-related restrictions still need review.
Future periods assume real eligible coverage and unchanged rules; they are not approval of future enrollment.

Worked fictional examples

Prepare a consultation worksheet step by step

1. Collect records: obtain coverage, service, retirement, lump-sum and repayment statements.
   Check older jobs for omitted periods.
   
2. Enter the transition: supply birth, reference date, direction, actual move and retirement.
   Leave the occupational entitlement date blank until confirmed.
   
3. Organize monthly periods: split continuous credited ranges and enter excluded gaps or credits.
   Match each lump-sum period with its repayment status.
   
4. Read reasons for withholding: distinguish insufficient duration from uncertain applicability or restoration.
   Verify eligible future enrollment before filling a gap with planned months.
   
5. Save the TXT: take the periods, assumptions, shortfall, reference dates and cautions to the relevant agency.
   Confirm the order of linkage application and the separate benefit claim.
   

Frequently asked questions