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The four major insurances when you make your first hire

첫 직원 채용 시 4대보험 안내

3 min read3 primary sources

Hiring your first employee in Korea brings four separate insurance programmes into play, reported through one joint portal but administered by different bodies. This post confirms what each covers and who is legally responsible for its premium, and flags where this post could not confirm a current rate from a primary source.

Students with laptops in a lecture room at SUNY Korea in Incheon, an instructor writing on the whiteboard
On this page
  1. Four programmes, one portal, different administrators
  2. Who pays which premium
  3. Registration is a legal duty, not a courtesy
  4. What this means for a foreign-owned company's first hire

Hiring your first employee brings four separate insurance programmes into play. This is not one bundled "employee insurance." Each programme has its own law, its own administering body, and its own rule on who pays.

Four programmes, one portal, different administrators

The joint registration point is the Four Major Social Insurance Information Linkage Center (4대사회보험 정보연계센터, 4insure.or.kr). An employer reports a new hire there once, rather than filing separately with each body.

InsuranceWhat it coversAdministering body
National PensionRetirement incomeNational Pension Service
Health Insurance (+ Long-Term Care)Medical costs, elder careNational Health Insurance Service
Employment InsuranceUnemployment benefits, trainingEmployment agencies, Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service
Industrial Accident CompensationWorkplace injury and illnessKorea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service

The single portal handles reporting. It does not mean the four programmes share one premium, one rate or one legal basis.

Who pays which premium

Korea's insurance premium collection law states this plainly for one of the four. Article 13 of that law is titled "Insurance Premium."

Paragraph 5 of that article opens with "사업주가 부담하여야 하는 산재보험료": the industrial accident insurance premium the employer must bear. That paragraph makes the employer solely responsible for this one premium.

National Pension and Health Insurance commonly split between employer and worker, unlike Industrial Accident Compensation. This post could not fetch a page confirming the exact split percentage. No figure appears here for that reason.

A separate article of the same collection law sets a reporting duty. An employer must report the start of an insured relationship after hiring a worker. Skipping this duty can carry a penalty under the same law.

What this means for a foreign-owned company's first hire

Nothing in the collection law ties this reporting duty to nationality. A foreign-owned Korean company hiring its first worker follows the same reporting path as any other employer.

An employee's own nationality can still matter for one programme: National Pension. Some countries hold a reciprocal exemption agreement with Korea. This post did not fetch a page listing which countries currently hold one, so none are named here.

The four major social insurances, their administering bodies, and who bears the Industrial Accident premium by law.

For registration and payroll support at your first hire, see EastStartup's services.

Frequently asked questions

What are Korea's four major insurances?
National Pension, Health Insurance (with Long-Term Care Insurance), Employment Insurance, and Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance, each administered by a different body but reported through one joint portal.
Where does an employer report a new hire?
Through the Four Major Social Insurance Information Linkage Center (4insure.or.kr), which forwards the report to the relevant administering bodies.
Who pays the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance premium?
The employer alone, by law. Article 13 ("Insurance Premium") of the collection statute opens paragraph 5 by stating that this premium is one the employer must bear.
What are the current contribution rates?
This post could not confirm this year's exact percentage rates for National Pension, Health Insurance or Employment Insurance from a primary source it could fetch directly. Check 4insure.or.kr for the current figures.
Is there a deadline to register a new hire?
Korea's insurance collection law requires an employer to report the start of an insured relationship, with a penalty for failing to do so, though this post could not confirm the exact day-count deadline from a page it could fetch.
Does a foreign-owned company follow different rules?
The collection law and the joint portal's own materials do not tie the reporting duty to the employer's or employee's nationality; the same registration path applies.

Sources

Everything above is the rule as published. See how it applies to your case.

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