Health ministry simplifies online applications for basic pension

The health ministry said Thursday it will simplify the online application process for the basic pension starting Oct. 30, allowing older Koreans to complete a submission without a spouse present and without supporting documents to hand.

The change is part of a push to improve the "application-first" approach to welfare benefits. Six laws on the subject were revised on Oct. 20 and are due to take effect on Jan. 21, 2027, the ministry said.

Only 3.4 percent of basic pension applicants used the online channel last year — 29,903 of 887,431 — the Ministry of Health and Welfare said. Among 2,467 applications abandoned online, 937, or 38 percent, stalled on preparing required documents and 917, or 37.2 percent, on consenting to provide financial information.

The pension is awarded according to the income and assets of both the applicant and their spouse, so both must agree to disclose financial data, and applicants often need to prove property holdings with paperwork. Under the change, a spouse who is not with the applicant can consent at any time through a website address sent by text message, rather than through signed documents.

Documents that are not linked to government databases, such as lease contracts, previously had to be attached as files before an application could be completed. Applicants will now be able to finish the online form and submit those documents later, either online or in person.

The ministry also removed a separate form for the pension's eligibility review service. A single click during the pension application will now enrol an applicant, and if a later review finds them eligible, an application will be deemed to have been filed. The service checks twice a year for five years on people who applied but were rejected.

"We expect that through this improvement, older adults will be able to apply for the basic pension easily and conveniently," Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyung said. She added that the ministry will keep looking for ways to spare people inconvenience when applying for welfare benefits.

The changes apply to applications made through the Bokjiro portal, a government site that lists information on about 460 central government welfare programmes and takes online applications for 55 of them.