Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mikejelai]

All I can say is that the lady I met with at the private teachers pension fund told me that the university (and the government) don't have to match your monthly pension contribution, which, remember is your money anyway, unless you stay for longer than 5 years at that same university.

[Mikejelai]

Are you referring to your monthly payroll deduction of ~ 200,000 won (your monthly pension contribution) as "their money"? If so, I don't understand....

[Mr. Peabody]

[Swampfox10mm]

Hey, busan...where/how do I check that website that shows my totals?

Thanks.

[busanmum]

The website is: www.ktpf.or.kr It only works in Explorer and the English part is basically useless. You have to register and login through the Korean side.

You need your ARC number, a digital certificate and the name you are enrolled in the plan under. I thought it was going to be relatively straight forward to check, but I turned out needing help from my secretary as they had me enrolled as 사라...that's it. Not DOESARAHJANE, not SARAH JANE DOE, only 사라. Not intuitive. My secretary called the hotline on the website, gave them my info and they told her my "name". I registered, logged in with the digital certificate and could see my pension history.

[Mikejelai]

How many of you have been at the same private university for more than 5 years?

[busanmum]

I'm moving my post from the locked thread here to keep info in the same place.

[Swampfox10mm]

[bigpun]

I'm new to this private pension fund for teachers, but in my understanding(this comes from my current university,) the school only contributes a fraction of your contribution for these first 5 years - after 5 years you are eligible to receive the difference, and from that point on your pension contributions equally matched. I seem to remember that while we pay the 50% month in and month out, in the first 5 years the school only pays 20% - after these first 5 years ONLY THEN is the remaining 30% deposited. Do any of the veterans in this situation have any info on that? Busanmum and the people she knows are all in the position where they have passed that 5 year mark, so their pensions are all square.

Mikejelai, I too am of the belief that this has been done to avoid paying foreign instructors the entire amount of the pension that they have earned. Your "eligibility" under this pension DOES NOT transfer over between schools who are members of the private plan ie. you will "start over" when you move to another school even if that school is part of this same plan. Thus you lose the remaining 30% of the pension contributions that were supposed to come from the previous school. At least, this is what my current uni has told me (indirectly.)

I am aware of caps on contract renewals at other schools, but does anyone know how many of these places actaully are members of this private teacher's pension fund (not running their own pension plan)? SNU I believe has a cap (3 years?) for the CEP and the English Dept. but I don't know if they run their own pension scheme. An example of a school which runs their OWN pension plan and used that system to cheat their instructors is Yonsei at Wonju.

Side bar: not related to the discssion on the Korea Teachers Pension Fund.

Yonsei Wonju prior to my arrival offered "Non Tenured Professor" contracts as well as "Instructor" contracts - the NTP contract offered a higher base, no severance (13th month's salary), and a private pension plan rather than the standard benefits of the "Instructor" contracts. This was only offered once, then discontinued. Pension benefits for NTPs were due to increase after the 5th year. At the end of 4 years, however, the university told people on NTP contracts that they would not be renewed under NTP status, thus depriving them of their full pensions. Last hiring period Yonsei Wonju reintroduced a new NTP contract, with a significantly higher salary, putting it more on par with the Shinchon campus. As far as I know, there are the same terms in this new contract as were in the old NTP contract.

[Mikejelai]

Busanmum,

Thanks, but how many of those people started working at their current university after the pension law changed in 2000 or 2001? Please note that people working at a university when the law changed were grandfathered in under the old system, and allowed to stay on the payroll (with 100% matching pension funds).

My assertion is that people hired after the law changed in the early 2000's are generally not allowed to stay longer than 5 years (cause the university would have to match their pension contributions).

[Gideon]

I came to Korea in 2004 and started working at a private university. Since that time I have worked at 4 private universities that all pay into the KTPF.

Some years ago I opened up an account on the ktpf website so I could track my pension contributions.

When I got to the 5 year mark my pension contribution doubled. It doesn't matter what university you work at or how long you've been at any particular uni, as long as they all contribute into the ktpf.

So in theory you could work at 5 different unis (those who pay into the ktpf.. all private unis i know do) and end up with your pension being doubled at the 5 year mark.

In addition I have also been told that your contribution resets at the end of the 5 year mark then over again.

for example..

4 years 11 months your pension is 10 mil won. Once you hit 5 years it will be roughly 20 mil. Then all your contributions from the 6th year to the 10th year doubles as it did from 1-5. BUT the money from years 1-5 does not equate into years 6-10 it just resets and starts over again.

I would have assumed that once you hit the 10 year mark there is a much bigger growth percent wise than when you hit the 5 year mark but it doesnt seem to be that way.


I know it doesnt sound like much of a pension 'scheme' to me.. more like a pension scam.. lol

I am still confused to this day as to how it works and why it works the way it does..

I think i've just confused myself even more after writing this tid bit about the ktpf. LOL

The ktpf has an English speaking line at 02 769 4439 for those seeking more info...

If anyone has more information to add about the ktpf and how they do their math i'd be happy to read it. I would also like to know if there are any people who hit the 10 year mark with the ktpf and how substantial a jump in pension the received at that mark..

[zappadelta]