On the 26th, Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo will hold a press briefing regarding the reform of the National Pension Service.
The Speaker's office announced on the 25th, "A press briefing on pension reform is scheduled to be held tomorrow (26th) at 11 a.m. in the Speaker's office." In political circles, it is expected that Speaker Kim will express his stance on the possibility of bipartisan agreement on the reform plan. There is also speculation that he may propose a 'one-point plenary session' on the 29th to handle the pension reform bill within the 21st National Assembly session.
Earlier, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, held an emergency press briefing at the National Assembly in the afternoon and announced that he would accept the 44% income replacement rate plan, which had been discussed as a compromise within the People Power Party. In return, he requested that President Yoon Seok-youl and the People Power Party accept the Democratic Party's proposal to pass the pension reform bill during the 21st National Assembly.
The Presidential Office and the ruling party responded negatively. A senior official from the Presidential Office told Yonhap News Agency, "Instead of rushing to settle the nation's 70-year plan, let's immediately bring the ruling and opposition parties together in the 22nd National Assembly to continue discussions for a more perfect social grand compromise on pension reform." Jang Dong-hyuk, chief spokesperson for the People Power Party in the National Assembly, stated in a commentary, "The failure to reach an agreement on pension reform is not simply due to a 1% point difference in the income replacement rate," and expressed the position that the matter should be discussed in the 22nd National Assembly rather than being hastily handled in the 21st National Assembly.
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