Yoon's Pledge to Raise Basic Pension from 300,000 to 400,000 Won per Month... Also Promises National Pension Reform

People Power Party projects elderly poverty rate to decrease by 4.9 percentage points
Estimated annual cost is 8.8 trillion won

Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, is appealing for support at the "A President Who Unites! Sincere for Jeonbuk!" Jeonju base campaign rally held at Jeonju Station, Deokjin District, Jeonju City, Jeonbuk Province on the afternoon of the 16th. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, promised to raise the basic pension from a maximum of 300,000 won per person to a maximum of 400,000 won.

On the 16th, Candidate Yoon stated, "As the first step to solving the elderly poverty problem, we will increase the basic pension by 100,000 won per person, from 300,000 won to 400,000 won per month, for 6.6 million middle-class, working-class, and low-income elderly." The required funds are estimated at 8.8 trillion won annually.

The People Power Party's election campaign headquarters expects that this basic pension increase measure will reduce the elderly poverty rate by 4.9 percentage points. A campaign official emphasized, "Considering the reality that four out of ten elderly people are making a living on about 1.1 million won per month, this measure is even more meaningful."

However, the regulation to reduce the amount by 20% when a couple receives the pension will be maintained. Even with this applied, the basic pension amount will increase, and the combined amount received by a couple will rise from a maximum of 480,000 won to 640,000 won per month.

There are also plans to reform the National Pension. The fact that the National Pension coverage rate is less than half is influencing the high elderly poverty rate. As of June last year, 46.4% of those aged 65 and over were receiving the National Pension. A campaign official said, "The next government plans to fundamentally resolve the elderly poverty problem by reforming the entire old-age income security system, including the National Pension, based on social consensus."

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