Pension Future Forum Strongly Supports the Government's Policy Direction to Concentrate Basic Pension Benefits on Vulnerable Groups (March 16, 2026)
- #연금특위
(The Pension Future Forum holds the position that the abolition of the couples' reduction in the Basic Pension should apply exclusively to elderly individuals in low-income households.
The Forum actively supports the government's stance of pursuing a restructuring of the Basic Pension in this direction!
However, in the case of abolishing the reduction provision,
the absolute poverty line(that is, the livelihood benefits under the National Basic Livelihood Security System)—the group exposed thereto, and to no one else, is where it should apply—such is the Forum's position.
This position of the Pension Future Forum
is also consistent with the policy recommendation of the OECD Secretariat that, "because Korea's Basic Pension has a very small effect in alleviating elderly poverty relative to the cost invested,"
the current operation of the Basic Pension must be comprehensively restructured
—a direction with which the Forum's position is fully in accord!)
President Lee: "The Basic Pension Must Be Reformed… What About Making Only the Increases 'Tiered—More for the Less Affluent'?"
President Lee Jae-myung stated on the 16th, "To reduce elderly poverty, it seems the Basic Pension will need some adjustment,"
and asked for views on a proposal for a "tiered increase (下厚上薄—the lower the income, the greater the support)."
That day, on X (formerly Twitter), the President wrote, "In our country, where the overall suicide rate and the elderly suicide rate rank among the highest in the world,
the single greatest cause of elderly suicide is poverty," and continued in this vein.
He noted, "An elderly person with a monthly income of several million won and one with zero income receive the same Basic Pension amount,"
explaining, "Now it would be acceptable to pay somewhat more generously to some—the elderly in poverty."
He went on, "Leaving what is currently paid as it is,
applying only future increases on a tiered basis—more for the less affluent—might also be a method. What are your views?"
https://n.news.naver.com/article/656/0000170571?cds=news_edit
