(Yonhap News) Basic Pension Cut by 2.8 Trillion Won over the Past Five Years Because Recipients Draw the National Pension (October 26, 2026)

Over five years, National Pension–linked

Basic Pension reductions surged threefold…

those affected top 840,000
Eight in ten of those subject to reduction

draw 1 million won or less a month

View original National Pension Service
[Yonhap News file photo]

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Han-gi = The Basic Pension amounts cut because recipients draw the National Pension have exceeded 2.8 trillion won over the past five years, it has emerged. The number of people subject to the reduction has also more than doubled in four years, and eight in ten of those affected were small-benefit recipients whose monthly National Pension was 1 million won or less.

The National Pension–linked reduction scheme cuts the Basic Pension paid, according to the contribution period, when a person’s National Pension benefit exceeds 150% of the Basic Pension’s reference (benefit) amount. It was introduced in 2014 with the aim of balancing the fairness of pension benefits, but criticism has persisted that, because the Basic Pension shrinks the longer one has contributed to the National Pension, the scheme actually penalizes those who faithfully paid their contributions. As of 2025, the Basic Pension was cut when one’s National Pension benefit exceeded 514,000 won a month.

[Concurrent Basic Pension and National Pension beneficiaries by year, past five years]

View original

View original Receiving both the National Pension and the Basic Pension (PG)
[Produced by Jeong Yeon-ju] Illustration

Total reductions up threefold in five years… one in five concurrent beneficiaries affected

On the 26th, according to data that Representative Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, obtained from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the total of National Pension–linked Basic Pension reductions rose about threefold, from 300.1 billion won in 2021 to 892.5 billion won in 2025. The amounts cut over the five years from 2021 to 2025 add up to 2.8293 trillion won.

The number of people whose Basic Pension was cut jumped 116.5%, from 389,000 in 2021 to 842,000 in 2025. Compared with the 40.7% increase over the same period, from 2.65 million to 3.728 million, in concurrent beneficiaries receiving both the Basic Pension and the National Pension, the rise in those subject to the reduction was far steeper.

Accordingly, the share of concurrent beneficiaries subject to the linked reduction also jumped every year. The share, 14.7% in 2021, rose year after year to 16.6% in 2022, 18.6% in 2023, and 20.5% in 2024, reaching 22.6% in 2025. In other words, more than one in five older people receiving both pensions did not receive their full Basic Pension but had it cut. As of 2025, the average monthly reduction for those subject to the National Pension–linked reduction reached 96,000 won. The average Basic Pension they actually received after the reduction was only 214,000 won. That is more than 70,000 won a month less than 287,000 won, the average Basic Pension of all concurrent beneficiaries, including those not subject to the reduction.

[Average Basic Pension amount and average reduction, as of 2025]

View original 80% of those affected draw 1 million won or less a month… a heavy blow to low-income groups The problem is that the great majority of those cut are low-income beneficiaries receiving small amounts.

Statistics by National Pension benefit bracket for 2025 show that, of the 842,000 people subject to the reduction, 678,000, or 80.5% of the total, received 1 million won or less a month. Vulnerable people receiving 700,000 won or less a month also numbered 390,000, or 46.3% of the total.

Looking at the number of people cut and the average reduction by detailed bracket, the bracket of over 500,000 won up to 600,000 won had the most people subject to the reduction, at 206,000, with an average cut of 34,000 won. It was followed by over 600,000 up to 700,000 won with 184,000 people (average cut 80,000 won), over 700,000 up to 800,000 won with 128,000 (average cut 103,000 won), over 800,000 up to 900,000 won with 92,000 (average cut 120,000 won), and over 900,000 up to 1 million won with 68,000 (average cut 134,000 won).

In the brackets above 1 million won, there were 49,000 people over 1 million up to 1.1 million won (average cut 144,000 won), 36,000 over 1.1 million up to 1.2 million won (average cut 152,000 won), 26,000 over 1.2 million up to 1.3 million won (average cut 157,000 won), 18,000 over 1.3 million up to 1.4 million won (average cut 162,000 won), 12,000 over 1.4 million up to 1.5 million won (average cut 166,000 won), and 23,000 in the bracket above 1.5 million won (average cut 170,000 won).

Representative Nam In-soon pointed out that “among older people who receive both the National Pension and the Basic Pension, the share subject to the linked reduction rose from 14.7% to 22.6% in four years.” Representative Nam went on to stress, “With those subject to the reduction whose monthly National Pension is 1 million won or less numbering as many as 678,000, the effect of the linked reduction on older people’s actual old-age income must be examined closely.”

“So that contributors who faithfully paid their contributions do not feel penalized, the actual state of reductions must be analyzed by recognized-income bracket and the effect on old-age income security examined,” Representative Nam added. “On that basis, the roles of the Basic Pension and the National Pension must be redefined and measures to improve the reduction scheme drawn up.”

[National Pension–linked average reduction and number of people affected, by National Pension benefit, as of 2025]

View original※ (Linked-reduction threshold) National Pension benefit exceeding 150% of the reference (benefit) amount (514,000 won in 2025)

[Graphic] Total National Pension–linked Basic Pension reductions
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Jae-yun = On the 26th, according to data that Representative Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, obtained from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the total of National Pension–linked Basic Pension reductions rose about threefold, from its 2021 level of 0.3001 trillion won to its 2025 level of 0.8925 trillion won. The amounts cut over the five years from 2021 to 2025 add up to 2.8293 trillion won.

Seo Han-gi ([email protected])

https://n.news.naver.com/article/001/0016399440?sid=102