Going forward, post office mail carriers will check on private school pension recipients’ well-being and whether they live at their address while delivering mail.

The Postal Service under the Ministry of Science and ICT said on Nov. 12 it signed a business agreement on Nov. 11 with the Private School Teachers’ Pension Corporation to implement a “welfare postal service” for private school pensions.

The agreement was arranged to support the corporation’s on-site verification work by using the nationwide post office network, and to improve pension recipients’ welfare checks and administrative efficiency. The service is expected to start this month.

Until now, the corporation’s staff visited sites in person to recover pension benefits, manage overdue loan repayments and conduct background checks on pension recipients. From now on, mail carriers will confirm relevant information during delivery and pass it on to the corporation.

When the corporation sends recipients notices such as payment bills, mail carriers will use a checklist during delivery to confirm whether the recipient personally received the mail, the recipient’s well-being, and signs of residence if the recipient is absent. The results will be returned to the corporation.

The corporation plans to use the service to secure on-site information that is difficult to verify through documents alone, including whether people subject to recovery or delinquency measures actually live at the address. It will also use the service to confirm eligibility for recipients aged 90 and older.

The Postal Service has operated various welfare postal services, including energy, Culture Nuri and agricultural and food vouchers, delivering welfare information and carrying out on-site verification work. It plans to use this agreement to expand support for administrative work at public institutions.

Postal Service chief Park In-hwan (박인환) said it will now be able to look after pension recipients’ well-being through the nationwide post office network and support public institutions’ on-site verification work. He said it will work to identify various welfare postal services to improve public convenience and administrative efficiency.