Guest post: Support a campaign for Irish workers in South Korea

The Irish expat community in South Korea is petitioning the Irish government to reform the existing pension agreement between Ireland and South Korea. 

Kenneth Quillinan, an Instructor at Kyungpook National University was in touch with us via Facebook and we invited him to share why he feels this is important.

It may not be an issue that the Irish Government would have high on their priority list, but for the Irish community both past and present in South Korea, the current national pension scheme that they are forced to adhere to is one that has been causing a lot of outrage recently. 

The agreement between both the Irish and Korean governments, which came into effect in 2009, is leaving many Irish workers out of pocket when they look to their future financial situation.

The following explanation should clarify the current situation that is available to Irish workers in South Korea with regards their pension payments: Currently, a mandatory contribution of 4.5% of our wages are been subtracted on a monthly basis along with an additional 4.5% matched by our employers into our national pension funds. 

These payments are mandatory unless you are working in the private sector, which for the most part does not apply to Irish workers. If we decide to leave Korea and move back home, we can transfer the pension payments we have made here to an Irish pension fund; however, we will lose 75% of our payments. 

The second option is to wait until we retire and we can return to Korea to claim back our payments - I find this current situation to be totally unfair. What about inflation? Who is currently benefiting from the interest gained on our investments? Who is holding onto money that is rightfully ours? Both governments have a long list of questions that they must answer to but currently they continue to remain unresponsive. 

Other workers here from Canada, America and most recently Australia have the right to claim back their pension payments when they leave Korea. South African workers here are not forced to pay into a pension fund as they know they cannot claim it back. These agreements seem fair and just, but once again the Irish community has to suffer from the incompetence and negligence of our government.

The petition - view here - which I established in mid June with the sole purpose of having our voices heard, has been gathering pace and reading through the comments on its page, it is clear to see that this current agreement affects a large number of Irish workers, not just here currently but whom have worked here before.

Sean Prenderville, an English instructor at Kyungil University, believes that the reputation of the Irish continues to be our downfall, but for once would like to see us stand up and continue to fight for justice, ‘’We Irish don't really have a reputation for challenging things that screw us over. Just look at the austerity measures and what Anglo have and most likely will get away with. We always leave it to someone else to challenge and if someone doesn't we just don't bother. In this case, Kenneth has and let's hope it gains more and more momentum and won't just fizzle out like a lot of protests have back home.’’

Seanan Clifford, who has worked at Keimyung University as a Professor of European Studies since 2004 also has strong views on the current situation, ‘’Most of us who have been here for a long time, came here with the intention of staying a year or two, and in your late 20's and early 30's, pension issues are not exactly pressing issues. Now, years later, with age creeping up and responsibilities building, pension rights are an issue. I look at myself aged 65, will I be in Korea? Will I be home in Ireland? It's like a reversed Clash lyric; "If I stay there will be trouble, if I go it will be double". 

And that’s my point, at 65 in Korea, I will receive my full pension, but back home I'll get 25% of it. Am I being indirectly forced to stay here? Am I being punished for emigrating? Surely not? As an Irish professional working abroad, I pay my taxes, I represent my culture and people and I hopefully add to Korean society. We are the ambassadors for our nation, yet, unlike our diplomats we do not receive a full Irish pension.

There is a whole list of viewpoints, feelings of injustice and sources of outrage portrayed by numerous Irish people on the petitions website. With almost 900 Irish people currently living in Korea, we all hope to see an improvement in our pension entitlements that match the conditions of other foreign workers. It really is not much to ask.

If you feel like supporting a small Irish community that is been treated unjustly please sign the petition and leave a comment. Thank you for reading.

https://www.change.org/petitions/the-department-of-social-protection-via-the-irish-embassy-seoul-korea-examine-and-alter-our-current-pension-agreement-offered-to-us-in-korea