In recent years, there have been 113,000 repeat recipients of unemployment benefits who have received them three or more times in the past five years. There are also 65,000 people who have repeatedly left and rejoined the same workplace to receive unemployment benefits. The amount of unemployment benefits paid to these repeat recipients amounts to 600 billion won per year, raising the need for institutional reform. Unemployment insurance is a public system that supports livelihoods while unemployed workers are engaged in re-employment activities after involuntary job changes, but it is being abused due to the lack of frequency limits. In fact, cases have been uncovered where individuals disguised voluntary resignations as involuntary dismissals to fraudulently receive unemployment benefits, and the Ministry of Labor has referred them for prosecution.
