(Pension Future Forum Future Generations Network Statement) — Approve the Confidential Submission of the National Pension Fund Management Committee’s Minutes Immediately —

There Can Be No Secrets About the Public’s Retirement Savings

— Approve the confidential submission of the National Pension Fund Management Committee’s minutes immediately —

 The National Pension is retirement savings that members of the public have built up by paying contributions throughout their lives. If suspicions have been raised about the process by which it was decided how that money would be invested, then at the very least the National Assembly, which represents the public, must be able to verify whether they are true.

 This year, the National Pension deferred domestic stock rebalancing and also raised its target allocation for domestic stocks substantially, on two occasions. The government and the National Pension explain that these decisions were made to reduce market shocks and raise long-term returns.

 We do not presume in advance that the judgment was wrong. It may have been a reasonable decision that took into account market conditions at the time and even the shock that large-scale selling would bring.

 If so, there is all the less reason to avoid scrutiny.

 In the National Assembly, suspicions are being raised that the government’s desire to boost the stock market influenced the process of deferring domestic stock rebalancing, whereas the government and the National Pension counter that it was not a political decision but a judgment that took the fund’s long-term profitability into account.

  The way to end the controversy is simple. Check the minutes.

 The current National Pension Act restricts, for a certain period, disclosure of the minutes of agenda items that could affect the market, yet it also requires the minutes to be submitted on a confidential basis when the competent standing committee of the National Assembly requests them. The point is not to disclose investment strategy to the market but for the National Assembly, which represents the public, to scrutinize the decision-making process confidentially.

 Yet right now even that minimal scrutiny is blocked because the ruling and opposition parties have failed to reach an agreement.

 The National Pension is not the money of any particular government or political party. It must neither become an administration’s tool for propping up the stock market nor be left mired in unfounded political suspicions. The only way to resolve both problems at once is transparent scrutiny.

 Future generations in particular cannot take this issue lightly. Today’s young people are the generation that will pay higher contributions in the years ahead and will have to bear the consequences of today’s fund management decisions the longest. Such young people cannot simply be told to trust blindly without even being able to confirm why their own retirement savings were managed differently from the existing principles.

  The independence of fund management does not come from secrecy; it is upheld only when independence from political power goes hand in hand with accountability before the public.

 The Pension Future Forum Future Generations Network therefore demands the following.

  First, the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee must, setting partisan interests aside, immediately vote to have the Fund Management Committee’s minutes submitted and made available for inspection on a confidential basis.

  Second, the government and the National Pension must faithfully submit to the National Assembly the grounds for the judgments on deferring rebalancing and changing the target allocation for domestic stocks, together with the risk management review materials.

  Third, taking this controversy as an occasion, a clear firewall must be erected between the government’s policy goals and the management of the National Pension Fund, and the independence and accountability of the Fund Management Committee must be strengthened.

 If the decision was above board, there is no reason to fear scrutiny.

  What the National Pension must protect is neither the face of any administration nor today’s stock index. It is the retirement of the public and the trust of future generations.

October 29, 2026

Pension Future Forum Future Generations Network