[Echo] "Wrong Then, Right Now": The Democratic Party's Shifting Stance (February 6, 2026)

(Independence of the National Pension undermined once in power Civil society criticism ignored; the Assembly on Demonstrations Act also amended for the worse An administration claiming the mandate of change must explain its shift in stance)

As of the end of last year, the National Pension Fund held accumulated reserves of 1,437 trillion won. This sum is roughly twice the size of the national budget, which creates a strong incentive for politicians and bureaucrats to intervene in its management.

Experts have therefore consistently called for the independence of fund management to be maintained, so that the National Pension is not exploited for the personal interests of politicians and officials.

The National Pension, which had been steadily reducing its allocation to domestic equities over recent years, last month adjusted its domestic equity target weighting upward from 14.4% to 14.9%.

This decision will channel an additional 7 trillion won into the stock market. Deploying pension reserves in a buoyant domestic equity market to grow retirement assets may appear rational on its face.

Yet this course of action by the National Pension cannot be considered in isolation from the Lee Jae-myung administration's "KOSPI 5,000" policy objective.

The fund is being deployed without hesitation to serve the administration's own policy goals — not only to support the stock market, but also to reduce foreign investment allocations in the name of stabilizing the exchange rate.

It is notable that the number of ex officio government representatives on the Fund Management Committee — previously five — was increased to six upon the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration (by the addition of a Vice Minister from the Office of Budget Policy).

The scope for intervention by senior officials who exercise political judgment has thus expanded.

This is why the recent statement by Kim Seong-ju, President of the National Pension Service, that "it is a firm principle that the National Pension is the entity that deliberates and decides on investments" rings hollow.

The Democratic Party, too, had loudly championed "the independence of the National Pension" during its years in opposition.

In March 2023, when the Ministry of Health and Welfare revised the operating rules of the Stewardship Responsibility Expert Committee — an advisory body to the Fund Management Committee — to allow government-recommended individuals to be seated as expert members, there was an uproar.

At the time, Democratic Party lawmakers held a press conference, declaring that "the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has begun extending dark hands into the National Pension."

The party even introduced a bill — the "Act to Prevent Government Interference in the National Pension" — that would require legislative action to alter the composition of expert members (the bill lapsed upon expiration of the legislative session).

Three years on, having assumed power, the Democratic Party has not once raised the question of restraining government interference in the fund — even as the fund itself has grown substantially larger.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/469/0000913247?sid=110