Workers Rights Korea's Health Insurance Must Regularise its Workers
At the 15th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, PSI affiliates adopted a resolution demanding that Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) immediately fulfil its 2021 agreement with Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU). Despite a government directive to regularise irregular workers, NHIS is delaying implementation, while introducing restructuring measures such as AI systems and reduced career progression.
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Jyotsna Singh
RESOLUTION #4: THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SERVICE OF KOREA MUST IMMEDIATELY FULFIL ITS PROMISE TO BRING THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTRE BACK IN-HOUSE!
The 15th Asia Pacific Regional Conference (APRECON) Meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, 8 - 11 September 2025
NOTES that the National Health Insurance Service of Korea (NHIS) has reached an insourcing agreement with the KPTU NHIS Customer Service Centre Branch in 2021 for the customer service centre, following the government’s 2017 announcement of the 'Guidelines for the Regularisation of Irregular Workers in the Public Sector', which approved the regularisation of irregular workers in the customer service centre,
RECOGNISES that the NHIS agreed to the basic terms regarding the insourcing and the recruitment processes, and that discussions on the details will continue in December 2024 through a labour-management and expert consultation body,
strongly CONDEMNS the NHIS for failing to implement the insourcing of the customer service centre four years after the initial agreement by delaying discussions on the insourcing process details, citing the government’s failure to approve staffing levels for the newly formed institution as the reason for this delay,
CONCERNS that, since the basic agreement in December 2024, rather than engaging in discussions on the details necessary to conclude the insourcing, the NHIS has forced restructuring, such as the early introduction of an AI customer service system and reduced career progression, under the pretext of insourcing,
DEPLORE that the government and the NHIS for outsourcing the customer service centre, which handles sensitive personal health information,
URGES the NHIS to immediately fulfil its promise to insource and calls on the government to properly oversee the NHIS, which is delaying the insourcing despite government approval.
Submitted by Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union (KPTU)