Speaker of the National Assembly Jinpyo Kim Proposing Pension Reform Measures [Image Source=Yonhap News]
Speaker of the National Assembly Kim Jin-pyo stated regarding the ruling and opposition parties' discussions on the National Pension reform plan, "Let's carry out parametric reform in the 21st National Assembly and pursue structural reform in the 22nd National Assembly."
On the morning of the 26th, Speaker Kim held a press conference in his office and made this announcement. He explained, "Among the three major reforms of labor, education, and pensions, pension reform, which is considered the most challenging, has gone through a public consensus process, and the ruling and opposition parties have significantly narrowed their differences regarding parametric reform."
This proposal aligns with the Democratic Party of Korea's position to handle the parametric reform plan in the 21st National Assembly, which ends in three days, and then pass the structural reform plan in the 22nd National Assembly. It is being evaluated as effectively siding with the Democratic Party amid the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties over the pension reform plan.
Parametric reform mainly involves adjusting the pension insurance premium rate and the income replacement rate. The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to raise the insurance premium rate from the current 9% to 13%, but they still have differences regarding the income replacement rate.
Speaker Kim emphasized, "Raising the insurance premium rate to a certain extent is necessary to create conditions for subsequent structural reforms such as basic pensions and occupational pensions."
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