Minister Jung Eun-kyeong Abruptly Cancels the Briefing on the “Basic Pension Overhaul Plan” (2026. 8. 28.)

3. Minister Jung Eun-kyeong Abruptly Cancels the Briefing on the “Basic Pension Overhaul Plan”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is preparing an overhaul plan that would change the Basic Pension eligibility criterion from the bottom 70% by income to a method linked to the standard median income.

According to the overhaul plan disclosed to the press, the eligibility criterion for new Basic Pension recipients would start at 90% of the standard median income next year and then be lowered in stages to 86.6% in 2028, 83.3% in 2029, and 80% in 2030.

Benefit amounts would also be differentiated by income band on a three-tier schedule. Low-income groups at or below 20% of the standard median income would see their benefit rise to 380,000 won next year and 400,000 won in 2028, while those in the 20%–40% band would receive 359,000 won and 367,000 won, respectively. Beneficiaries above 40% would continue to receive the current 350,000 won.

On March 16, President Lee wrote on the social media platform X that “older people with a monthly income of several million won and older people with zero income receive exactly the same Basic Pension amount,” proposing a “more for the lower, less for the upper” approach; Jung Eun-kyeong, for her part, said at a June 11 briefing marking her first year in office that “paying everyone the same amount has only a limited effect in alleviating elderly poverty.”

An unnamed pension expert, however, told the Hankyoreh that “until now the benefit has been paid uniformly to older people in the bottom 70% by income, but once the method of determining eligibility is switched to the standard median income, the number of beneficiaries will vary with a threshold that changes every year and more people will lose eligibility than at present,” adding that “unless the design is meticulous, resistance from the older people concerned is bound to intensify and negative public opinion to grow.”

The Ministry had planned for Minister Jung Eun-kyeong to brief the press on the overhaul plan herself at 2:00 p.m. on the 27th, but abruptly canceled it one hour before the scheduled time.

The Ministry explained that “some elements of the overhaul plan had not been finally settled, so the cancellation was unavoidable,” but it is said that, with the President’s approval rating falling, there were concerns about an erosion of support among older voters.

Nam Chan-seop, Professor of Social Welfare at Dong-A University, pointed out in the Dong-A Ilbo that “in overhauling the Basic Pension, which several million people receive, there has not been enough open debate or consultation with those directly affected,” while

Yoon Seok-myung, Research Fellow Emeritus at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, told the Chosun Ilbo that “the longer reform is put off, the heavier the burden on future generations becomes.”

https://n.news.naver.com/article/047/0002526972?sid=102