National pension lump-sum refund: countries whose nationals may claim

24 by agreement + 26 by reciprocitycountries, across both nationality routes

Nationality decides this and the list is not intuitive — large countries with many workers in Korea are absent from it. The list is republished as agreements are concluded, so an old blog's country table is one of the more damaging things a departing worker can rely on.

Applies to: Foreign nationals leaving Korea permanently who contributed to the national pension
Review cadence: Checked once a year

What we have recorded

2026-06-15
24 by agreement + 26 by reciprocity
24 countries qualify through a social security agreement providing for the refund — the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, India, Türkiye and the Philippines among them — and 26 through reciprocity, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Kazakhstan. China is not on the current list, so Chinese nationality alone does not establish entitlement. Minimum contribution conditions differ by country. Separately, periods contributed on E-8, E-9 or H-2 status qualify regardless of nationality. The basis for a foreign national's entitlement is art. 126 read with the social security agreements and reciprocity framework, not art. 102 — a citation that appears in many departure checklists and points at the wrong rule. Three routes exist: the home country recognising a corresponding benefit for Koreans, an agreement covering lump-sum refunds, or a qualifying residence status. Establish nationality and status against those routes before assuming any refund is payable.
National Pension Act, art. 126, and the social security agreements and reciprocity framework

One reading so far. This becomes a history the first time the figure moves while we are watching — which is the part that cannot be reconstructed later.

Guides that depend on this figure

When this figure moves, every guide above needs the same edit. That is why it is tracked here rather than copied into each one.