Ruling and Opposition Parties' Pension Reform Working Meeting Ends in 25 Minutes with 'Parallel Lines'...

Only Differences in Positions Confirmed

The government, the People Power Party, and the Democratic Party of Korea held a working-level meeting on the afternoon of the 27th regarding National Pension reform but only confirmed their differences in position.

Kim Sang-hoon of the People Power Party and Jin Sung-jun, policy chiefs of the Democratic Party, met privately for about 25 minutes and then told reporters respectively, "We decided to discuss further," indicating that they did not reach an agreement on the pension reform plan.

The meeting was attended by six people, including the policy chiefs of both parties, Park Joo-min, chair of the Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party, Kim Mi-ae and Kang Sun-woo, the ruling and opposition secretaries of the Welfare Committee from the People Power Party and the Democratic Party respectively, and Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare.

National Pension Service. Yonhap News Agency

Policy Chief Kim said, "It would be good if we could each take a step back on the income replacement rate and the automatic adjustment mechanism to reach an agreement, but it seems that internal opinion gathering within each party on that part is insufficient."

Policy Chief Jin said, "There was no agreement at all regarding the income replacement rate and the automatic adjustment mechanism," adding, "We need to see the progress of the National Council meeting tomorrow."

Currently, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed to raise the contribution rate, which is the 'money paid,' from the current 9% to 13%, but regarding the income replacement rate, which is the 'money received,' the People Power Party claims a level of 43-44%, while the Democratic Party argues for 44-45%.

The People Power Party is open to considering an income replacement rate of 44% on the premise of introducing an automatic adjustment mechanism. The Democratic Party is negative about immediate introduction, stating that the automatic adjustment mechanism should be treated as a long-term discussion topic.

The automatic adjustment mechanism is a system where the contribution rate and income replacement rate are automatically adjusted according to demographic and economic conditions.

They arranged this meeting to narrow differences over the core issues of pension reform?the income replacement rate and the introduction of the automatic adjustment mechanism?ahead of the second ruling-opposition-government National Council meeting scheduled for the 28th.