[Issue Debate] What Will Become of the Government Employees Pension Cuts? (Maeil Shinmun, May 30, 2014)

The purpose of pension reform is to reduce the burden on future generations and thereby secure the long-term sustainability of the system. If a sound reform proposal is set aside simply because it requires greater expenditure in the short term, the burden on future generations will inevitably increase. The time is now for those who can assess the National Pension objectively — standing at the level of the general public — to advance the work of reform.

Some government officials argue that genuinely reforming the Government Employees Pension would require greater expenditure in the near term and is therefore impractical, but this view reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the basic purpose of pension reform. A system that has become unsustainable due to changing socioeconomic conditions cannot be left in the hands of the very officials who insist the state must take responsibility for it.

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