Yoon Orders "Special Measures" in Response to 80 Trillion Won Loss in National Pension Last Year

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President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 6th instructed, "Prepare special measures to increase the fund management returns so that the National Pension can properly protect the people's precious retirement funds."

President Yoon made this request during the senior secretaries meeting held at the Yongsan Presidential Office that morning, saying, "The recently announced National Pension returns for last year recorded the lowest ever and incurred significant losses," according to spokesperson Lee Do-woon’s briefing.

According to the National Pension Service Fund Management Headquarters, last year’s National Pension fund management return was -8.22%, the worst since the Fund Management Headquarters was established in 1999, with an evaluation loss amounting to 79.6 trillion won.

President Yoon pointed out, "Pension reform is an important national reform task to secure sustainability by alleviating the burden on future generations," adding, "Along with institutional reforms, improving fund management returns to reduce the burden on the people is also one of the very important reform tasks."

Regarding some media reports that President Yoon ordered the relocation of the National Pension Service Fund Management Headquarters from Jeonju, Jeonbuk to Seoul, the Presidential Office official explained, "The Fund Management Headquarters is legally required to be located in Jeonju," and added, "This issue is not a matter for the Presidential Office but seems to be related to how the National Assembly changes the law."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, in response to some criticisms that administrative officers belonging to the Civil Society Secretariat of the Presidential Office engaged in support activities for Kim Ki-hyun, a candidate for the People Power Party leadership, in a group chat room, they rebutted, "There were staff members invited to the chat room, but they did not participate out of courtesy."

They continued, "There was no discussion related to any specific candidate, and it seems there were mentions about national publicity," drawing a line by saying, "Please do not try to involve the Presidential Office any further in the party convention."

They also added to reporters, "Repeated questioning could, in a way, have the effect of drawing the Presidential Office into the party convention by the media."