[Taepyeongno] Welfare Benefits That Have Continued to Expand — Is a Meaningful Reduction Beginning? (March 31, 2026)

(Since early 2024, in particular,

more than anyone else and more than any other group,

in the cause of genuine pension reform for the Republic of Korea,

the Pension Future Forum has taken the lead

and called out with unwavering urgency.

The Forum's activities and the statements it has issued

have now been covered by the Chosun Ilbo.

The Pension Future Forum regards this article as carrying great historical significance.)

President Lee Jae-myung recently remarked that "to reduce elderly poverty, the Basic Pension will likely need to be restructured," referencing a proposal to increase benefits more generously for lower-income recipients while increasing them less for higher-income recipients (a so-called bottom-heavy, top-light approach).

President Lee stated that "one possible approach would be to leave existing benefit levels as they are and apply the bottom-heavy, top-light principle only to future increases."

The Basic Pension has targeted the bottom 70% of the income distribution since the era of the Basic Old-Age Pension, when approximately 100,000 won was paid beginning in 2008.

As a result, the number of eligible recipients has grown exponentially in tandem with the increase in the population aged 65 and over. Yet because the same benefit amount is disbursed uniformly to the bottom 70% of the income distribution, the elderly poverty rate remains among the highest in the OECD. At the same time, there have been widespread criticisms that, as the eligibility income threshold rises each year, individuals above the middle-income level — those aged 65 and over who are in reasonably comfortable financial circumstances — are also receiving the Basic Pension.

Calls for restructuring have persisted over the years, yet no one has so much as pretended to listen.

Thus, when the President's remarks were made public, a research organization called the 'Pension Future Forum' went so far as to issue a statement of "active support."

The organization counts many scholars who place a high premium on fiscal sustainability, and has until now issued predominantly critical assessments of the government's pension policies.

A conservative pension expert also remarked: "With an election approaching, this is the kind of statement that could make the upper half of Basic Pension recipients anxious about potential benefit cuts," adding, "given that such comments could affect election outcomes, one is almost grateful that he said it."

With approval ratings in the mid-60% range and an opposition that has been entirely unable to mount a challenge, the President appears to have acquired some political latitude.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/023/0003968017?sid=110