Ruling and Opposition Parties Stress Need for Unified Effort on Pension Reform... Parliament Must Quickly Establish Pension Special Committee

Park Su-young "Opposition Must Join Quickly to Accelerate Structural Reform"
Ahn Sang-hoon "National Pension Should Be Discussed by Multiple Ministries Together"

The People Power Party's Special Committee on Pension Reform agreed that integrated efforts from both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as the government, are necessary for pension reform. They also urged the opposition party to participate in the National Assembly's permanent Special Committee on Pension Reform for multi-layered discussions on pension reform.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo is talking with Assemblyman Park Soo-young at the pension reform policy forum hosted by the People Power Party's Pension Reform Special Committee at the National Assembly on the 12th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Park Soo-young, the chairman of the party's Special Committee on Pension Reform, met with reporters after a policy briefing on pension reform on the 12th and said, "For the first time since the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the pension reform plan, related ministry ministers and vice ministers gathered to have a basic discussion on structural reform," adding, "The conclusion reached today is that pension reform is not only about the National Pension managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Financial Services Commission, and the Ministry of Economy and Finance are all involved in this multi-layered pension system."

He continued, "Pension reform is not an issue to be handled solely by the Ministry of Health and Welfare or the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee. We agreed that the National Assembly should establish a special pension committee and that integrated efforts from the entire government are necessary to properly address pension issues," emphasizing, "We have agreed between the party and government to continue discussing structural reform issues with the relevant ministers."

Park said, "The previous government pension reform plan was announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, so detailed discussions on structural reform could not be made because some parts are outside the ministry’s jurisdiction," and explained, "Starting from today’s briefing, we will begin concrete discussions on structural reform, and if the opposition party quickly joins and forms the National Assembly’s (permanent) Special Committee on Pension Reform, the process can be accelerated."

The People Power Party is pressuring the Democratic Party to participate in the permanent Special Committee on Pension Reform, but the Democratic Party maintains the position that discussions can be held within the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee. In response, Park pointed out, "From our perspective, the Democratic Party keeps focusing on the fundamental reform of the National Pension," adding, "Since the opposition party is the majority, they seem to think that simply raising the income replacement rate in the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee is sufficient, thus missing the bigger picture."

Ahn Sang-hoon, the secretary of the party’s Special Committee on Pension Reform, emphasized, "During the 21st National Assembly, discussions on pension reform centered on the National Pension did not progress well," and said, "The National Pension should not be discussed only in the subcommittee of the Health and Welfare Committee; multiple ministries should come together to promptly establish a National Assembly Special Committee on Pension Reform to discuss these issues."

On the 4th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a pension reform plan that raises the National Pension contribution rate from the existing 9% to 13% and increases the income replacement rate from 40% to 42%. The reform plan also includes measures to improve fund yield rates, introduce automatic adjustment mechanisms, and implement differentiated contribution rate increases by generation. The briefing on this day continued with follow-up discussions on structural reform and other government proposals. Attending from the government side were Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare; Kim Moon-soo, Minister of Employment and Labor; Kim Byung-hwan, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission; and Kim Yoon-sang, 2nd Vice Minister of Economy and Finance.