Social insurance

Social insurance (사회보험/社會保險) refers to four major social insurance schemes required by law - national pension (국민연금), health insurance (건강보험), employment insurance (고용보험) and workers' compensation insurance (실업보험).

Social insurance has been enforced in Korea to ensure social security as a collective means that the government provides citizens with timely and proper measures against injuries, disease, old age, death, layoffs and other various risks during their life.

Key words
social insurance schemes, national pension, health insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation insurance

Legal nature
Compared with private insurance, social insurance is characterized by social solidarity and mandatory nature. At present, four major social insurance schemes are mandatory one in Korea. It means governmental or social responsibilites for the vulnerable. So the entitlement to due benefits is legally guaranteed. Everybody is required to pay principle on the basis of pay-as-you-earn and at most premium level corresponding to risk factor but benefit level uniformly paid.

Comparison of 4 Major Social Insurance Schemes
See the table at the official Website.

Statutory ground
Social security is defined as a collective system of social insurances (사회보험), public assistances (공공부조), social welfare services (사회복지서비스) and other related welfare programs (관련복지제도) designed to protect people from various social risks, including diseases, disabilities, old age, unemployment, death, poverty, etc., and thereby, improve their quality of life. Article 3 i of the Basic Act on Social Security (사회보장기본법).
 * National Pension Fund Act (국민연금법) by the National Pension Servie (국민연금공단)
 * National Health Insurance Act (국민건강보험법) by the National Health Insurance Corporation (국민건강보험공단)
 * Employment Insurance Act (고용보험법) by the Minstry of Employment and Labor and the Employment Insurance (고용보험 서비스)
 * Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (산업재해보상보험법) by the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (근로복지공단)

Further information
Social Insurance Information System (4대 사회보험 정보연계 센터) is one-stop service portal for four major social insurance schemes. Its purpose is to qualitatively improve social security and insurance services for customers through conjunctionally sharing information resources among information systems for four major insurance schemes.

Migrant Workers' eligibility for coverage
See the table showing the insurance coverage for which migrant workers are eligible by visa status.