BTSDB Guide · Business — headcount claims against public records
"We are a manufacturer with 200 employees" is easy to write on a website. In Korea it is also easy to test, because a business that employs people leaves a trail in two public datasets. Neither is a full company profile, but together they show whether the scale you were told about is plausible.
| Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service | National Pension Service | |
|---|---|---|
| What it counts | Workers covered by employment and industrial-accident insurance at the workplace | Employees enrolled in the national pension at the workplace |
| Also shows | Registered workplace name, address, date coverage began | Total monthly pension contribution billed |
| Who is included | Practically every employee, including part-time | Employees aged 18–59; very short-hours staff are excluded |
| Shown on BTSDB when | The business number has an insured workplace | A pension workplace matches the registered company name |
| What you see | Likely meaning |
|---|---|
| Headcount close to what the supplier said | The claim is consistent with the record |
| Far fewer than claimed | Staff may be employed by another entity, or the claim is inflated. Ask which company employs the workers |
| No insured workplace at all | A sole proprietor working alone, or a business with no employees |
| A long-established start date | The workplace has been insured for years, which supports a claim of long operation |
| Pension count much lower than insurance count | Many part-time, older or short-tenure workers |
The pension record gives the total monthly contribution. Dividing it by the number of subscribers and by the contribution rate (9.5% of pensionable pay in 2026, split equally between employer and employee) gives an estimate of average monthly pay. BTSDB labels this figure as an estimate, because it is one.
Two limits matter. Pensionable pay is capped at KRW 6.59 million a month, so the estimate understates pay at firms with many high earners. And it is an average: a company with a few executives and many junior staff can show the same number as one with uniform mid-level pay.
For financial strength, ownership and liabilities you need documents rather than open data — the corporate registry extract and, for larger deals, financial statements. See how to read a corporate registry extract.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Data shown by BTSDB comes from official Korean government open-data services.
For most employers, yes. The workers' compensation agency publishes the number of insured workers per workplace, and the pension service publishes the number of pension subscribers.
A business with no employees has no insured workplace. It can also happen when the pension workplace name does not match the registered company name, in which case BTSDB shows nothing rather than risk showing another company's data.
The total monthly pension contribution is divided by the number of subscribers and by the contribution rate. Because pensionable pay is capped, the result understates pay at high-salary firms.
Not necessarily. Staff may be employed by a related company or by subcontractors. Ask which entity employs them and look up that entity's number.
No. It shows scale of employment only. Revenue, profit and debt require financial statements or a credit report.