Ruling and opposition parties have mixed reactions to national pension reform bill of ‘paying more and receiving more’

Activists of the National Action for Strengthening Public Pension hold a press conference to announce the Pension Action\'s position on pension reform as a result of the public debate in front of the main building of the National Assembly on the 23rd, calling for the clarification of the state payment of public pensions and the guarantee of a 50 percent income replacement rate. Kim Chang-gil

The ruling and opposition parties had mixed reactions to the national pension reform bill of “paying more and receiving more,” which was most supported by the citizens' representatives of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Pension Reform. The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) expressed a positive stance, saying, "Increasing guaranteed income is the will of the people," while the ruling the power of the people expressed a negative stance, criticizing, "It's a bad thing that allow pensioners pay a little more and receive more than that."

Joo Ho-young, chairman of the Special Committee on Pension Reform and PPP lawmaker, met with reporters on April 23 and said, "The pension reform is meant to fix the unfair reality for the younger generation, but I wonder if it is effective enough.” He added, "According to the current reform plan, the remaining period until the depletion of pensions will be extended by six to seven years, followed by a sharp deterioration in finances. The failure to solve the depletion problem is itself the burden on future generations and two opposite sides of the same coin.”

Yoo Kyung-joon, the PPP’s secretary at the Special Committee on Pension Reform, pointed out on his social media account that “the future of the youth and the country will be bleak if we forget that the national pension has a certain income redistribution function, but it is mainly determined by the principle of insurance, where the amount of premiums is determined by the contributions made by the individual.”

Chun Ha-ram, a newly-elected lawmaker of the Reform Party said on his social media account, “This is a bad reform of generational selfishness that will break the spine of future generations.” He criticized that “it is said that a person born in 2015 will pay 35.6 percent of his or her monthly salary as national pension premiums when they turn 46. How can they make a living if they pay more than 35 percent of their salary as national pension premiums and additionally pay health insurance premiums and income taxes?" He added, “We need to introduce a completely accumulated new pension in consideration of intergenerational equity, and have a fundamental reform on the national pension that separates the old pension from the new pension. Should we bring greater bombs and despair to future generations in an era when hopes for the future have already faded and marriage and childbirth have been abandoned?"

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.