"Why Must I Alone Pay More While You Alone Receive More?"—Young People's Anger over the Pension Reform Proposal (March 20, 2025)

Rep. Kim Jae-seop of the People Power Party declared, "This is not a consensus on reform but a swindle by the established generation, which has seized political vested interests. Have they agreed to plunder future generations?" He continued: "Why must I alone pay more while you alone take more? I cannot agree to a deal that merely fits a terminally ill National Pension with an oxygen respirator.

I publicly oppose the amendment to the National Pension Act to be tabled today. The ruling and opposition parties must reach agreement on structural reform at once," he stated.

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Yoon Seok-myung, Honorary Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and a member of the Pension Future Forum, stated at a National Assembly press conference that day: "They pretend to act in the interest of the younger generation and future generations,

but this is merely a sleight of hand by those aged 50 and above who intend to draw out more pension benefits for themselves and then bolt," and he argued that an automatic adjustment mechanism must be introduced.

Kim Hak-ju, Professor in the Department of Social Welfare at Dongguk University, stated: "The ruling and opposition parties must declare that they will, without fail, introduce an automatic adjustment mechanism together with the parametric reform proposal."