Kim Sung-joo: "Pension Reform Plan Regresses Compared to Moon Administration... Sent an Empty Cart"

"Increase in Insurance Premium Rates, the Problem is the Government's Will"
"Differential Increase by Age? It Means Everyone for Themselves"

On the 27th, Kim Seong-ju, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and the opposition party's secretary of the National Assembly's Pension Reform Special Committee, criticized the pension reform plan announced by the government, saying it "has regressed more than the Moon Jae-in administration."

On the 30th, on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus,' Rep. Kim said, "I expected the current government to present at least one or two narrowed-down proposals, but instead, they presented 18 hypothetical scenarios that are more regressive than those of the Moon Jae-in administration five years ago and pushed the decision to report to the National Assembly."

Kim Sung-joo, Senior Deputy Chairman of the Policy Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Policy Coordination Meeting held at the National Assembly on the 22nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Although the government announced a pension reform plan on the 27th that included the direction that an increase in the insurance premium rate is inevitable, it was criticized for lacking concrete figures such as the insurance premium rate and the income replacement rate (the ratio of the pension amount to the average income during the pension subscription period), being called "lacking substance."

Rep. Kim said, "We were eagerly waiting for a cart loaded with something, but they sent an empty cart with nothing in it," adding, "On the one hand, it is extremely irresponsible and a surrender of the government's role."

There is criticism that the government’s release of a "pension reform plan without substance" is an attempt to shift responsibility to the National Assembly. He said, "Historically, pension reform involved the government taking responsibility and the National Assembly legislating through discussions on the government's proposals," adding, "If the government only presents 18 scenarios and passes them to the National Assembly, saying it will gain public consent through public debate, it means the government is not taking the lead in this difficult and important pension reform and is shifting all responsibility to the National Assembly and the public."

Regarding Health and Welfare Minister Cho Gyu-hong's remark that "a gradual increase in the insurance premium rate is inevitable," he said, "the inevitability of increasing the insurance premium rate was also acknowledged during the Moon Jae-in administration, which proposed a 3% increase through a social consensus body," adding, "The issue is how much determination the government has to accomplish this."

He further pointed out, "The problem is that the government, which should be the one to take the first step, has presented nothing and is becoming an obstacle rather than a catalyst for future discussions."

Regarding the government's plan to apply differentiated increase rates by age, he said, "It is a very unusual proposal not seen in any other country," adding, "They claim to have accepted the demands of the younger generation, but that is an immature argument that requires further discussion."

He said it would be difficult for the National Assembly to accept such content. In response to the host's question about whether the private advisory committee under the Pension Reform Special Committee had ever reviewed the differentiated increase plan by age, he said, "We have never reviewed it," adding, "Most experts would probably raise their eyebrows at the differentiated plan."

He added, "(The pension system) is an intergenerational solidarity system where the current young generation supports the elderly generation, and future generations support the next generation. If differences are made between the current generation, those already retired, and those about to retire, that solidarity will be broken," adding, "As social insurance, the National Pension cannot survive, and it will turn into individual private insurance where everyone fends for themselves."

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