The OECD Korea Policy Centre's Social Policy Division, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Pension Service (NPS), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), hosted the 11th Asia-Pacific Public Pension International Training Program from May 12 (Monday) to May 13 (Tuesday) online, and from May 20 (Tuesday) to May 23 (Friday) in Seoul and Jeonju, for a total of six days.

This training program included lectures on national pension systems(Overview, Eligibility, Contribution Collection, Pension Benefits), an on-site visit to the NPS headquarters in Jeonju Innovation City, and working-level meetings. Participants had the opportunity to share their own challenges and issues and to directly experience advanced practices in Korea.

Participants included 19 policymakers and practitioners from six countries: Azerbaijan (State Social Protection Fund), Brunei(Employee Trust Fund Brunei), Georgia(Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia/LEPL Pension Agency of Georiga), Kazakhstan (United Accumulative Pension Fund JSC), Malaysia(Employees Provident Fund), and Thailand(Social Security Office of Thailand).

Through this program, we were able to broaden our first-hand understanding of Korea’s experience in expanding its pension system, customer service center operations, and ICT-based work environment. In particular, by introducing the National Pension Service’s use of artificial intelligence (AI), we were able to contribute to the digitalization of pension operations in the training country.