'Valley murder' convict Lee Eun-hae collected W13m in survivor pension — none recovered

Lee Eun-hae, who received a life sentence for the "Gapyeong valley murder," collected about 13 million won ($9,710) in survivor pension benefits after her husband's death — and not a single won has been recovered.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Kyo-heung of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee said Sunday, citing data obtained from the National Pension Service, that Lee filed for survivor pension benefits after killing her husband in 2019 and received about 460,000 won a month for 28 months, collecting roughly 13 million won in total.

The National Pension Service subsequently canceled Lee's survivor pension entitlement following the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling, which found she had intentionally caused her husband's death, but the pension payments already disbursed have not been recovered. The service said "the obligated repayer (Lee Eun-hae) has been incarcerated for an extended period and no assets registered in her name have been identified, making recovery through seizure or compulsory execution difficult."

The National Pension Service pays survivor pension benefits to the bereaved family of a deceased person who meets certain eligibility criteria, including being a recipient of an old-age pension or having been enrolled in the national pension scheme for at least 10 years. However, survivor pension payments are canceled for any family member who intentionally caused the death of the insured, and any benefits fraudulently or improperly received must be fully recovered.

The broader problem is that over the past five years, 34 cases of fraudulent survivor pension claims have been identified, totaling 400 million won, yet only 230 million won — about 56.3 percent — has been recovered.

National Pension Service records also show a case in which a person falsely reported their spouse as dead after the spouse left for overseas in 2001, then collected about 96 million won in survivor pension benefits over 22 years — 273 months — before the fraud came to light in 2023 when the spouse returned to Korea.

"Fraudulent survivor pension claims have reached 400 million won over five years, and on top of that, there are even more cases of national pension fraud carried out through other means, such as concealing a death," Kim said. "We must track down every fraudulent recipient to the end and recover every won, so that members who faithfully pay their premiums are not the ones who suffer."