There is a question people who have lived a long time in Australia and are moving back to Korea often ask.
“What happens to my pension when I go to Korea?” “Can I get the National Pension?” “Can I also get the Basic Pension?”
The first thing you have to separate here is this. The National Pension (국민연금) and the Basic Pension (기초연금) are different.
The National Pension is a contribution-based pension you receive according to the record of the premiums you paid. The Basic Pension is closer to a welfare benefit paid to people aged 65 and over whose income and assets fall below a certain threshold.
That is why whether you have overseas assets, whether you have crypto, whether you have an overseas account is a far more sensitive issue in the Basic Pension test than for the National Pension. And at the end of June 2026, a bill was filed that aims to look at this more strictly.
But one thing has to be clear from the outset. This is not yet a law in force. It is at the filing stage.
The bottom line
- On 29 June 2026, lawmaker Seo Yeong-seok filed, as lead sponsor, a partial amendment to the Basic Pension Act.
- At its heart is a proposal to reflect virtual assets and overseas financial assets exceeding ₩500 million when calculating the Basic Pension’s income-converted assets.
- The Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that, on a 2023 basis, 9 out of 624 people who had reported over ₩500m in overseas financial assets were receiving the Basic Pension.
- This bill is still only at the filing stage. It has not been confirmed as passed or brought into force.
- If you are a return-migrant holding sizeable overseas assets, it is safer not to lean heavily on the Basic Pension in your retirement budget.
- National Pension ≠ Basic Pension: the National Pension is a question of the record of what you paid; the Basic Pension is a question of an income-and-asset test.
First, the Basic Pension is not the National Pension
This is the most important sentence in this article. The Basic Pension is not the National Pension.
The National Pension is a pension you receive on the basis of your record, when you paid premiums while working in Korea, or when you have a payment history through voluntary enrolment and the like. Whether or not you lived overseas, and whether or not you have assets in Australia, it is fundamentally your payment record that is central.
The Basic Pension is different. The Basic Pension is a scheme to support older people whose retirement income is insufficient. So rather than “how many years did I pay in,” what matters is how much income and assets you currently have.
In other words, the difference is like this.
| Category | National Pension | Basic Pension |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Based on premium contributions | Welfare benefit |
| Key criterion | Payment record | Income and assets |
| Effect of overseas assets | A separate issue from the entitlement itself | Can affect the income-converted-assets test |
| From a return-migrant’s view | Check your payment record | Check the scale of your assets |
So it is risky for a return-migrant to think simply, “I’m a Korean national and I’m old enough, so I’ll get the Basic Pension too.” The Basic Pension is not a scheme that looks only at age. It looks at income and assets together.
What this amendment is trying to change
On 29 June 2026, Seo Yeong-seok, a lawmaker on the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, filed a partial amendment to the Basic Pension Act as lead sponsor.
The core of what has been reported is this. When calculating the Basic Pension’s income-converted assets, look at assets more broadly than at present. In particular, two things go in.
- Virtual assets
- Overseas financial assets exceeding ₩500 million
Under the current Basic Pension test, domestic assets — real estate, deposits, savings, shares, insurance — are central. But there had been criticism that where someone has a large sum in an overseas account or holds a lot of virtual assets, their income-converted assets can be calculated as low even though their real assets are large. This amendment is intended to close that gap.
To stress it again. The law is not yet in force. It is at the filing stage.
But the direction the bill points in is worth reading. It means Korea’s welfare screening is gradually moving from a method that looks only at “assets visible domestically” toward one that also looks at overseas assets and digital assets.
Why a bill like this appeared
Behind it lies a point raised by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
In an audit of the welfare system for older people, made public in March 2026, the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that, on a 2023 basis, 9 out of 624 people aged 65 and over who had reported more than ₩500 million in overseas financial assets were receiving the Basic Pension.
By the numbers alone it is 9 people. It may not look like much. But from the standpoint of scheme design, the message is different.
“If the structure lets people with substantial overseas assets also receive the Basic Pension, the scheme’s fairness could be at risk.”
That is the crux. The Basic Pension is not an allowance given equally to everyone; it is a scheme to support older people with relatively lower income and assets. So if someone holding sizeable overseas assets receives the Basic Pension through a gap in the scheme, the government has a reason to fix it.
This article is not trying to attack or defend that intent. From a return-migrant’s point of view, what matters is one thing. When you move back to Korea, the assets you left overseas may matter more and more in Korea’s welfare screening.
Why it matters for return-migrants
Koreans who have lived a long time in Australia often have assets scattered in many places.
Australian bank accounts, Australian share accounts, super, Korean accounts, Korean real estate, crypto exchanges, records of gifts between family members or living-cost transfers. The location of the money is more complex than for someone who spent their whole life only in Korea.
But if you move back to Korea and think about the Basic Pension, the question now changes.
The old question was “how much do you have in assets in Korea?” The question that will matter more from now is “how much do you have once you add in the assets outside Korea?”
In particular, if you are someone moving back to Korea after building up a fair amount of assets in Australia, the Basic Pension should be seen not as “money you get when you reach the age” but as money you can only receive after passing an income-and-asset test. And if you have enough assets, the Basic Pension should not be placed at the centre of your retirement cash flow in the first place.
Does “₩500m in overseas assets” mean automatic rejection?
Here, too, you should not exaggerate.
This amendment is still at the filing stage, and whether it actually passes and how it would be implemented may differ. Also, the Basic Pension does not simply look at “how much you have in assets”; it has various calculation structures, such as the way assets are converted into deemed income. So you should not conclude that “if you have ₩500m in an overseas account, you’re automatically out.”
There is, however, a realistic conclusion. If your overseas financial assets are at a level exceeding ₩500 million, it is right to keep your expectation of receiving the Basic Pension low.
And that matches the direction of this bill too. This amendment reads less as an intent to make an issue of an ordinary migrant’s living-cost account, and more as an intent to fix the structure whereby someone holds sizeable overseas assets yet has their domestic income-converted assets set low.
In other words, for most migrants this news is closer to a confirmation of principle than to scary news. If you have enough assets, don’t count on the Basic Pension; design your National Pension, super, personal assets, and your Korean and Australian cash flows separately.
Why crypto is going in
Virtual assets are assets the old welfare-screening structure never imagined.
They do not look like a bank deposit, and unlike a share account they are not captured by traditional financial institutions. But in terms of real economic power, they are assets.
So the bill contains a direction that would require applicants for the Basic Pension to consent to providing virtual-asset information and overseas-financial-account information, and that would establish a basis for the Ministry of Health and Welfare to request related data from virtual-asset operators and the National Tax Service.
This, too, is not yet a settled implementing regulation. It is the content of a filed bill. But the direction is readable. Korea’s welfare, tax and financial administration is gradually moving from an era of looking only at “visible money” toward one that looks at all assets that can be confirmed through data. Virtual assets are becoming no exception to that flow.
What someone preparing for reverse migration should do now
You do not need to rush to change anything based on this one piece of news. The law has neither passed nor come into force yet. But if you have a plan to move back to Korea, it is good to sort out at least this much in advance.
| What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| National Pension payment record | As a contribution-based pension, confirming your own entitlement comes first |
| Australian super | Review separately when and how you can access it after returning to Korea |
| Overseas bank and investment accounts | Could become important for the Basic Pension, tax and residency determination |
| Virtual assets | Need to organise exchanges, wallets, acquisition cost and current value |
| Korean real estate and deposits | The core of the existing income-converted-assets test |
| Family transfers and gifts | Need to distinguish living costs from gifts |
| Timing of return to Korea | May coincide with your switch to resident status under tax law |
What is especially important is not putting the National Pension and the Basic Pension in the same bucket. The National Pension is a matter of confirming the record of the money you paid; the Basic Pension is a matter of having to explain the assets and income you hold. Mixing the two blurs your retirement budget.
Read next
- Can you draw Korea’s National Pension while living in Australia?
- Moving back to Korea — super, property, tax
- What happens to your Australian super when you leave
- The Korea–Australia money map
Sources and disclaimer
Sources: Korean media reporting including Bravo My Life / etoday, “‘The Basic Pension will now weigh up crypto and overseas assets too’… bill filed to add to income-converted assets” (June 2026), and the Board of Audit and Inspection’s performance audit of the welfare system for older people (made public March 2026).
This article is general information and is not legal, tax or welfare-eligibility advice. The amendment is at the filing stage, and whether it actually passes, its timing of implementation, and its detailed criteria may change. For applying for the Basic Pension, reporting overseas assets, and determining resident status under tax law, please confirm against the latest guidance with the National Pension Service, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and tax professionals.