Comedian Lee Jin-ho and Actress Shin Eun-kyung Included... List of Habitual Insurance Premium Delinquents Released

Personal Information of Major Defaulters on Health, Pension, and Employment Insurance Disclosed
13,449 Individuals Including Celebrities Listed
Total Overdue Amount Reaches 364.1 Billion Won

The National Health Insurance Service has released the personal information of more than 13,000 individuals who have long overdue and high amounts of unpaid health insurance, national pension, and employment and industrial accident insurance premiums. The amount of unpaid premiums ranged from tens of millions to several billion won, and even celebrities were included on the list.

The Asia Business Daily DB.

On December 30, the National Health Insurance Service announced that it had disclosed the personal information of a total of 13,449 individuals with large and long-term overdue payments: 10,444 for health insurance, 2,424 for the national pension, and 581 for employment and industrial accident insurance. The information was made public through the corporation's website and the electronic official gazette.

The individuals subject to disclosure are those who, as of December 31 of last year, had missed payment deadlines by more than one year and owed at least 10 million won in health insurance premiums, at least 20 million won in pension insurance premiums, or at least 50 million won in employment and industrial accident insurance premiums. The disclosed information includes the name of the delinquent payer (and, in the case of corporations, the company name and representative's name), age, business type or occupation, address, type and amount of unpaid insurance premiums, and other relevant details.

The number of people disclosed this year decreased by 1.7% compared to last year's 13,688, and the total amount of overdue payments was tallied at 364.1 billion won, down 35.4% from the previous year. The corporation explained that the decrease was due to the temporary surge in disclosures last year following stricter criteria for employment and industrial accident insurance, which led to a reduction in new delinquents being added to the list.

National Health Insurance Service Plaque

The individual with the largest amount of overdue payments was identified as Mr. Seo, a manufacturing worker, who has failed to pay 1.33 billion won in health insurance premiums since October 2017. Among corporations, a company located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, had the highest amount of unpaid premiums, having failed to pay 12.02 billion won in employment and industrial accident insurance premiums over a period of 16 months.

Several celebrities were also included on this year's disclosure list. Actress Shin Eun-kyung has been delinquent on 95.17 million won in health insurance premiums since February 2014. Broadcaster Lee Jin-ho, who is currently taking a break due to illegal gambling allegations, has been overdue on 28.84 million won since April 2023, and singer Cho Deok-bae has owed more than 32.39 million won since February 2010.

In March, the corporation selected 29,660 individuals as candidates for disclosure through the Insurance Premium Information Disclosure Review Committee and provided a grace period of more than six months for explanations. In the second review in December, those who had paid, were deceased, were benefit recipients, or had no income or assets were excluded, and the final list for disclosure was confirmed.