People Power Party's Kim Sanghoon Proposes Bill to Extend Retirement Age by 1 to 3 Years for Public Officials with Multiple Children

Kim Sanghoon, a member of the National Assembly from the Daegu Seo-gu district representing the People Power Party, announced on the 10th that he has proposed 10 bills, including amendments to the National Public Officials Act and the Local Public Officials Act, to extend the retirement age and provide promotion benefits for public officials raising multiple children in response to the low birth rate crisis.

According to Statistics Korea's "2024 Population Trends Survey: Birth and Death Statistics," the number of births last year was 238,300, an increase of 8,300 (3.6%) compared to the previous year. South Korea's total fertility rate peaked at 1.24 in 2015 and has fallen for eight consecutive years to 0.72 in 2023. With the increase in births last year, the rate rose to 0.75, up 0.03 from the previous year.

Kim Sanghoon, member of the People Power Party

Although the birth rate has rebounded slightly, it remains extremely low by international standards. As of 2022, the average total fertility rate among OECD member countries was 1.51, more than double that of South Korea. South Korea is the only OECD member with a fertility rate below 1.0, and even Japan, which is facing a serious low birth rate, recorded a rate of 1.26.

To overcome the crisis of low birth rates and the looming demographic cliff, and to continuously raise the birth rate, extraordinary government measures are required. Given the reality that many people are reluctant to have children due to the high economic costs of childcare, urgent financial support from the government is needed.

In particular, for families with multiple children, not only are the burdens of education and living expenses relatively higher, but as the age at which parents give birth continues to rise, concerns have been raised about income disruptions caused by retirement.

Accordingly, the proposed amendments aim to reduce the economic burden of childcare by extending the retirement age for public officials raising multiple children in proportion to the number of children: by one year for those with two children, two years for those with three children, and three years for those with four or more children. In addition, public officials below grade 5 with three or more children would be eligible for benefits such as special promotions, priority in promotion exams, or additional points in personnel evaluations.

Some government agencies and local governments have already implemented systems to extend the retirement age for public officials and public workers with multiple children, or to provide special promotions and additional points in personnel evaluations.

For example, Daegu City has extended the retirement age for public workers with multiple children, Ulsan City has implemented special promotions for firefighters with multiple children, and Gimhae City and Goseong County have introduced additional personnel points for public officials with multiple children.

Kim Sanghoon stated, "In today's socio-cultural environment, where the economic costs and burdens of childcare are high, overcoming low birth rates requires not just an emotional approach of associating childbirth with happiness, but rather clear and tangible incentives to encourage childbirth."

He emphasized, "Extending the retirement age and providing promotion benefits for public officials with multiple children in the public sector is expected to encourage similar measures in the private sector, thereby fostering a culture throughout society that promotes childbirth."

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