(Newsis Report on the Pension Future Forum) From Childbirth Grants and the Basic Pension to Local Grants… Next Year's Budget Bill Faces a Thorny Road (2026.09.02.)

A One-Day Difference in the Childbirth Grant…

Reviewing Whether to Apply It Retroactively
The 'More for the Lower, Less for the Upper' Basic Pension Slammed as Hasty

One Voice
Education Circles: "Overhaul the Grant System,

We Will Move to Block the Law Revision"

The Basic Pension, in particular, has faced criticism from all sides regardless of political camp.

The government's overhaul plan leaves the current eligibility standard of paying the bottom 70% by income unchanged, while adding 30,000 won for those at or below the bottom 30%, adding the inflation rate for those in the 30–45% band, and freezing the amount for those above 45%.

Over this, those who emphasize fiscal stability cited the unchanged eligibility standard as the problem, while those who emphasize income security cited insufficient additional support as the problem.

The Public Pension Strengthening People’s Action said at a press conference the day before, "It is a problem that the Lee Jae-myung administration, which has argued for universal welfare, is realizing means-tested welfare through the Basic Pension — but the bigger problem is that it has put forward, without transparency, a hasty overhaul plan that is ‘more for the lower, less for the upper’ in name only," and called on the government to halt its attempt to overhaul the Basic Pension.

Yoon Seok-myung, Research Fellow Emeritus at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, who leads the Pension Future Forum and emphasizes fiscal stability, also

said, "It seems we need to fight to keep the overhaul plan from passing, for the sake of our country's future."

In the education sector, backlash is intensifying over the local education finance grant. The government passed at a State Council meeting a revision bill whose core content abolishes the system linking the grant to 20.79% of domestic tax revenue. The government says it will put safeguards in place so the total amount does not fall below the previous year's, but education groups are criticizing the move as undermining the stability of education finance.

The 2026 Emergency Action in Response to the Local Education Finance Grant Overhaul said it "will move to block the revision of the law through every possible activity, including picketing and sit-ins in front of the National Assembly, meetings with the Speaker of the National Assembly and party leaders, concentrated response during the period of the National Assembly audit, meetings with district lawmakers, and public relations and publicity campaigns."

https://n.news.naver.com/article/003/0014162883?sid=102