[Ha Hyun-ok's Perspective] "I Will Manage My Own Retirement Pension, Thank You" (January 19, 2026)

'The retirement pension is a worker's private asset, accumulated over a lifetime of labor. Nevertheless, consolidation into a public fund would restrict the individual's right to manage these assets and could create a structure in which accountability for investment failures is unclear. …(omitted)… I firmly believe that the state must never manage individual assets. Young people in their twenties and thirties are already worried about whether they will even receive the National Pension—the government must not also interfere with the retirement pension.'

On the 12th of this month, a petition titled "Opposition to the Promotion of Retirement Pension Consolidation into a Public Fund" was posted to the National Assembly's public consent petition board. The petition called for a halt to the consolidation initiative and opposed across-the-board consolidation without workers' consent.

Above all, the proposed consolidation of the retirement pension into a public fund triggers what might be called "National Pension trauma." There are concerns that the retirement pension could become another version of the National Pension—a fund the government treats as discretionary spending for defending the exchange rate and propping up the stock market. In the petition opposing consolidation, the petitioner noted: "Concentrating the management of the retirement pension into a single fund heightens the risk of political and policy intervention, and a single misjudgment could directly harm the retirement security of countless citizens."

In fact, the government—which has proclaimed the era of KOSPI 5000—is already calling on the National Pension to play a supporting role. President Lee Jae-myung has directed the National Pension to review increasing its allocation to domestic equities. When the won–dollar exchange rate surged sharply at the end of last year, the foreign exchange authorities even mobilized the National Pension to bring the rate down, but the effect proved short-lived. As the exchange rate has recently surged again, the National Pension's intervention amounted to little more than burning through funds. This is precisely what the petitioner warned against.

(omitted)

Distrust of the government promoting retirement pension consolidation fuels a range of suspicions. One view holds that the consolidation of the retirement pension serves as a safety net to absorb the selling pressure that will materialize when the National Pension—which is increasing its domestic equity holdings—must sell stocks to pay out benefits. The retirement pension reserve, which stood at 431.7 trillion won at the end of last year, is projected to exceed 1,172 trillion won by 2040, according to estimates by the Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI). There are even views suggesting that the consolidation is intended to channel retirement pension funds into the bond market to cover the growing issuance of deficit-financing government bonds.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/025/0003497435?sid=110