Special Committee on Pension Reform Plenary Session
Follow-up Measures to the Tripartite Joint Declaration
Nam Insun, chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's Special Committee on Pension Reform, stated at the committee's plenary meeting held on the 25th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building that "based on the tripartite (labor-management-government) joint declaration to strengthen the function of pensions, tangible outcomes must follow, including amendments to the Guarantee of Workers' Retirement Benefits Act (Retirement Benefits Act)."
Chair Nam said, "Through pension reform, the projected depletion date of the National Pension Fund has been extended by 15 years, from 2056 to 2071. This has secured time for structural reform through parametric reform," adding, "Now we must take a step further so that structural reforms will follow to strengthen old-age income security and to resolve future generations' anxiety about pensions."
Nam Insoon, a Democratic Party lawmaker and chair of the Democratic Party's Special Committee on Pension Reform, is speaking at the committee's plenary meeting held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 25th. Yonhap News
Park Hongbae, a Democratic Party lawmaker serving on the special committee, said, "The purpose and potential of fund-type retirement pensions are clear, but in the field there are still concerns being raised about management responsibility and the risk of losses," and proposed that "expanding retirement pensions for small and medium-sized enterprises first in a public-institution-type model is a realistic starting point."
Earlier, on the 6th, labor, management, and the government reached an agreement for the first time in about 20 years on restructuring the retirement pension system. To improve returns, they decided to activate a fund-type retirement pension system managed by experts, and to mandate external funding of retirement benefits at all workplaces so that retirement pay can be guaranteed even if a company goes bankrupt. Han Jeongae, the Democratic Party's policy chief, said at a party-government consultation meeting on the 23rd, "We will prepare an amendment within this year and pass it."
On this day, the special committee discussed follow-up measures in line with the tripartite joint declaration on retirement pensions, as well as the need for and direction of basic pension reform. The meeting was attended by Chair Nam, Representative Park, and Representatives Oh Gihyung, Kim Yoon, Park Heeseung, Ahn Dogeol, and Jeon Jinsuk, along with Choi Gwanbyeong, Director General for Labor Standards Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Choi Okgeum, Head of the Pension Policy Research Department at the National Pension Research Institute, and others.
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