Lee Jae-myung Announces First New Welfare Pledge: "Expand Social Security Systems Below Minimum Standards... Increase Child Allowance Age from 7 to 18"

Raise South Korea's Social Security Level to International Standards
Ratification of the ILO Convention on Minimum Standards of Social Security

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced a new welfare pledge on the 29th to raise South Korea's quality of life ranking, currently 30th among OECD countries, to 15th within his term.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Candidate Lee, together with former party leader Lee Nak-yeon, revealed the first pledge of the candidate’s direct New Welfare Committee, titled "Realization of International-Level Social Security: Establishment of Minimum Guarantee and Construction of Adequate Guarantee," at the Korea Social Security Institute in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. They outlined the purpose, goals, and policy overview of the new welfare to be pursued by the next government.

The New Welfare Committee announced plans to elevate Korea’s social security level to international standards by ratifying the "Convention on Minimum Standards of Social Security" adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and strengthening the social security system.

They emphasized expanding systems that currently do not meet minimum standards, such as child allowances, sickness benefits, and national pension (survivor’s benefits, disability benefits). At the same time, they plan to progressively ratify higher-level conventions to pursue adequate guarantees covering overall living standards beyond minimum guarantees.

First, regarding child allowances, the current age limit of 7 years will be expanded to 15 years in the first phase to meet minimum standards, and further extended to 18 years within the term in the second phase. For sickness benefits, the first phase will apply to 50% of employees, and the second phase will promote universal application. For national pension survivor and disability pensions, they plan to raise benefits to meet international minimum levels starting from the 5th financial recalculation scheduled in 2023.

The co-chairs of the New Welfare Committee are Assemblyman Park Kwang-on, who served as the general director of former leader Lee Nak-yeon’s campaign, and former Blue House Senior Secretary for Social Affairs Kim Yeon-myeong (professor at Chung-Ang University), known as the "mentor." A total of 65 experts participate as subcommittee members.

Professor Kim held a briefing at the party headquarters in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, stating, "The goal is to develop policies and investments so that people can enjoy at least the OECD average quality of life within the term," and explained, "This means upgrading the domestic social security system to meet ILO standards." He added, "There is still much to improve in the social policy field, and the candidate’s major direction is to raise it to an international level."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.