South Korea saw more jobless people seek financial assistance from the state pension fund in 2018 amid the country's rising unemployment, data showed Friday.

About 416,000 unemployed people applied for the "unemployment credits" last year, compared with 369,000 a year earlier, according to the data from the National Pension Service.

The number accounted for nearly 48 percent of jobless people who received unemployment benefits from the government.

South Korea introduced the unemployment credit system in 2016 to help assuage financial hardships of those who are in between jobs.

Under the system, the government shoulders 75 percent of monthly pension premiums of those who receive unemployment benefits for up to a year, while the recipients pay the remainder.

The increase was seen as people's efforts to provide for old age despite their joblessness.

It also came as more South Koreans didn't have jobs in 2018. In the first nine months of last year, the number of unemployed people stood at 1.12 million, up 51,000 from a year earlier.

Last year, South Korea's unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent, its highest level since 2001, when the corresponding figure was 4 percent. (Yonhap)