[Who Is ?] Kim Sung-joo, Chairman of the National Pension Service — A Two-Term Lawmaker and the First Returning Head in the Agency’s History, Tasked with Bedding Down Pension Reform and Securing Trust in Fund Management [2026] (2026-07-20)

(Reporting on a single individual

almost as though one were writing history in this way —

this seems to be the first such case one has encountered.

What could the reason be!)

△ Charged with implementing the first pension reform in 18 years

Kim Sung-joo is working to bed down in practice the National Pension reform enacted after 18 years. The core of this reform is to “pay more and receive more.”

Under the amendment to the National Pension Act passed by the National Assembly on March 20, 2025, the contribution rate begins at 9.5% in 2026 and rises by 0.5 percentage point each year to reach 13% in 2033. The nominal income replacement rate, which indicates the level of pension received in old age, had been set to fall from 41.5% in 2025 to 41% in 2026, but 43% will apply to coverage periods newly accrued from 2026 onward.

Writing the State’s obligation to guarantee payment expressly into the statute is another pillar of the reform.

The former National Pension Act stipulated only a duty to establish measures for stable payment, whereas the amended Act states flatly that the State must guarantee the stable and continuous payment of pension benefits.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the change contributors feel is that, on the basis of average monthly earnings of 3.09 million won, the monthly contribution rises by 7,700 won for workplace-based contributors and by 15,400 won for individually insured contributors. This is because workplace-based contributors split the payment evenly with their employer, whereas individually insured contributors bear the full amount themselves.

The increase in the contribution rate is the first in 28 years, since 1998, and the institutional reform itself is the first in 18 years, since 2007.

Reform was long deferred because of the political burden that a “pay more” reform carries. Because a contribution increase reaches directly into every citizen’s wallet, successive governments and National Assemblies opened discussions without ever bringing them to a close. Only in 2025 did a bipartisan agreement carry the measure over the threshold of the National Assembly.

The government projected that this reform pushes the expected depletion of the National Pension Fund back by eight years, from 2056 to 2064, and that if the accompanying goal of raising the fund’s investment return by 1 percentage point, from 4.5% to 5.5% a year, is achieved as well, depletion would be deferred by 15 years, to 2071.

In 2026 the reform entered the stage at which the public feels its effects.

Along with the contribution-rate increase on January 1, the credit scheme was also expanded. A credit recognizes part of a period in which no contributions were paid as coverage, thereby raising the pension amount. The childbirth credit, previously recognized from the second child onward, was broadened to apply from the first child, and its 50-month ceiling was removed. The military service credit was extended from a maximum of 6 months to 12 months.

The number of low-income individually insured contributors eligible for contribution support also rose from 193,000 to 736,000.

From July 1, the upper and lower limits of the standard monthly income used to calculate contributions were adjusted, the ceiling from 6.37 million won to 6.59 million won and the floor from 400,000 won to 410,000 won. As a result, the monthly contribution of high-earning contributors subject to the ceiling rose from 573,300 won to 626,050 won. The band of monthly income between 410,000 won and 6.37 million won, which accounts for about 86% of all contributors, is not directly affected by the adjustment of the ceiling and the floor.

The core elements of the scheme, such as the contribution rate and the income replacement rate, are set in statute by the government and the National Assembly, and the ceiling and floor of the standard monthly income are announced by the Minister of Health and Welfare. The National Pension Service applies these rules to levy and collect contributions and to pay benefits, serving as the executing agency that beds the amended scheme down in practice.

Kim Sung-joo, since taking office as the 19th chairman, has assessed this reform by saying that “with the first pension reform in 18 years and the first contribution increase in 28 years, the National Pension has bought time,” while also making clear the view that follow-up reform discussions must continue.

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