The South Korean government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka to provide US $ 36 million for a pension scheme for the Sri Lankans employed in Korea. The proposed pension would be paid by the National Pension Scheme of Korea (NPS).

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Employment and Welfare said yesterday (24) that 14,000 Lankan workers, currently employed in that country were entitled to it. Each pensioner will receive between Rs. 250,000 to 300,000 every six months.The Director General of the Korean Pension Department Bae Seong Hoon and the Secretary of Sri Lankan Foreign Employment and Welfare Nissanka N. Wijeratne signed the MoU on Tuesday (22) at the ministry.

The Ministry will gather all information of Sri Lankan workers and requests them to send their applications, which will in turn be directed to the National Pension Scheme of Korea. After clarifying all details, the NPS and the Ministry will pay the pensions to all the workers who are entitled to it.

The spokesman said that the Sri Lankan workers who have not applied through the Ministry and those who have no idea of the Korean Pension Service would face problems. The employees going to Korea should apply for the pension once they complete five years of service there. Those who are over 60 years would be entitled to draw the pension. The Ministry would hold awareness programmes among the Sri Lankan workers.

Source: http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=39738