(Pension Future Forum Position Statement, JoongAng Ilbo, October 14, 2026) [Exclusive] As Chairman Kim Sung-joo Returns… National Pension Service Revives '7 Million Won a Month' Team Leader Post
![(Pension Future Forum Position Statement, JoongAng Ilbo, October 14, 2026) [Exclusive] As Chairman Kim Sung-joo Returns… National Pension Service Revives '7 Million Won a Month' Team Leader Post](/uploads/editor/2026/10/2204b9fa7b7945b39feda2bfbfea1fe9-0003557760_001_20261014052215751.jpg)
(The Pension Future Forum, as a rule, tries as far as possible not to post on its website about matters of this kind.
However, judging from today's JoongAng Ilbo article, there appears to be something questionable about the process by which the National Pension Service hired a special policy adviser.
This matter was already raised by The Fair News in January 2026.
Judging from various circumstances, the special policy adviser to Kim Sung-joo, Chairman of the National Pension Service, appears to come from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and to belong to the 'Public Pension Strengthening People’s Action.'
First of all, we request that these facts be verified.
If what has been raised is true, we cannot help but question the procedural and substantive propriety of the head of the National Pension Service, which is entrusted with the public's retirement security, hiring a figure from a particular camp as a special policy adviser.
Yesterday (October 13, 2026), the 'Public Pension Strengthening People’s Action' issued a position statement raising concerns about a particular National Pension Service official (the head of the Real Estate Investment Office).
We also put the following question publicly to the 'Public Pension Strengthening People’s Action': what is its position on this matter? Today is the day of the parliamentary audit of the National Pension Service. We ask the 'Public Pension Strengthening People’s Action' to state its official position by the end of today.)
It has emerged that Kim Sung-joo, Chairman of the National Pension Service, revived a policy-support team leader post paying 7 million won a month right after returning as chairman last December. In the previous term as chairman, Kim filled this post with a former aide from Kim's years in the National Assembly, and then resigned midway through the term to run in a general election. Citing this record, the opposition party has raised suspicions, asking, “Are the organization and personnel of the Pension Service not being used for the chairman's personal political ambitions?”
According to data that Representative Han Ji-a of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, obtained from the National Pension Service on the 13th, the Service conducted an open recruitment in January this year for a team-leader-level post in charge of policy support and other duties, right after Kim took office as its 19th Chairman on December 15 last year.
View original Job posting for a team leader in charge of policy support. Photo: screen capture of the National Pension Service website
The post is responsible for ‘policy support for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO),’ external cooperation, and other duties, with monthly pay set at 7 million won. Nine people applied. The successful candidate was A, a figure from the labor sector who served as a working-level member of the Lee Jae-myung administration's State Affairs Planning Committee. Chairman Kim served as an advisory committee member of that committee.
As its reason for creating the post, the Service said, “New innovation such as pension reform requires a fresh approach that draws on the experience and capabilities of private-sector experts.” On A's hiring, it explained, “We hired a private-sector expert with professional communication skills and ample work experience with a wide range of stakeholders, including labor and employer organizations, the government and the National Assembly.”
This is not the first time Kim has created such a post. After taking office as the Service's 16th Chairman in November 2017, Kim set up a team leader post in charge of the chairman's policy support and external cooperation in December of the same year. At that time, the person hired was B, a former aide who had worked in Kim's office when Kim was a member of the 19th National Assembly.
Kim resigned as chairman in January 2020, with about 10 months of the three-year term remaining, in order to run in the 21st general election. B left the Service in February of the same year. In April that year, Kim was elected in the constituency where the Service's headquarters is located (Jeonju Byeong), and B returned to Kim's office as an aide.
Representative Han Ji-a took issue with the fact that a post left unused for about six years after Kim's first term was re-created right after the second inauguration. Pointing out, among other things, that the aide the Service hired in the past returned to Kim's office after Kim won the general election, Representative Han argued, “This appointment, too, could be tied to Chairman Kim's future political moves.”
View original Campaign materials of National Pension Service Chairman Kim Sung-joo from the general elections of 2020 (Assembly No. 21, left) and 2024 (Assembly No. 22). Both list Kim's tenure as chairman of the Service.
Kim sought to run in the same constituency in the 22nd general election in 2024 but lost the party primary. The current chairmanship term runs until December 2028, and the 23rd general election is scheduled for April of that year.
Representative Han said, “The chairmanship of the National Pension Service, which is responsible for the public's retirement funds, must not be reduced to a stepping stone for an individual's political career.” Han went on, “Chairman Kim must make a clear commitment to devoting the term to securing the pension's sustainability and the Service's stable operation, and to faithfully carrying out the duties of chairman.”
View original Photo: Office of Representative Han Ji-a
Reporter Chae Hye-seon [email protected]
(For reference, we have posted The Fair News article of January 27, 2026 and the Yonhap Infomax article of October 13, 2026 under 'Press Coverage' in the Pension Future Forum's 'Notices & Statements' category.)
