(SBS Biz Report Related to Pension Future Forum) 3.48 Million Older People to Receive 380,000 Won a Month Starting Next Year (September 2, 2026)

Basic Pension "more for the lower, less for the upper" plan collapses…

Only the bottom 30% get 30,000 won more

[Anchor] 

The Basic Pension, received by 70% of people aged 65 and older, will pay up to 30,000 won more a month starting next year to older people with lower incomes. 

But this is a major retreat from the original overhaul concept, which had aimed to alleviate elderly poverty by lowering pensions for higher-income recipients. 

Reporter Lee Jeong-min has the story. 

[Reporter] 

The Basic Pension, currently paid at a flat 350,000 won a month to everyone eligible, will be paid at differentiated rates according to income level starting next year. 

The 3.48 million older people in the bottom 30% by income will receive 380,000 won a month, up 30,000 won, while those in the 30–45% income band will receive 359,000 won, up 9,000 won. 

However, older people in the 45–70% income band will receive the same pension as this year. 

[Jung Eun-kyeong / Minister of Health and Welfare (from the government work report on the 16th of last month): The principle of "more for the lower, less for the upper" has already been set. We are drafting the overhaul plan in two directions: not fixing the eligibility threshold at 70% through relative evaluation, and changing it to a standard-median-income basis.] 

A plan had originally been discussed that would apply the standard median income, narrowing eligibility to up to 80% of the standard median income while providing more generous support to those at or below 40%, but the assessment is that this has been scaled back. 

As a result, next year's Basic Pension budget will be 25.7 trillion won, an increase of 2.6 trillion won from this year. 

[Yoon Seok-myung / Research Fellow Emeritus, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA): More tax money goes in, and it only increases the burden on the younger generation and future generations. How much effect does this system overhaul actually have on alleviating elderly poverty…] (Leader of the Pension Future Forum)

Amid disappointed assessments of the overhaul plan, which went through last-minute difficulties, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's position is that further social discussion is needed. 

This has been Lee Jeong-min, SBS Biz.