(Wide Economy, Pension Future Forum Coverage) Next Year's '820 Trillion Won' Super-Budget Heads to the National Assembly — Childbirth Grants, the Basic Pension, and Grants-in-Aid Are Flashpoints Everywhere (2026.09.02)

The Basic Pension overhaul plan for older people is drawing fierce backlash from both the conservative and progressive camps.

Under the government's plan, the current eligibility threshold of the bottom 70% by income is maintained, but an additional 30,000 won is added for those in the bottom 30% or below, price indexation is applied for the 30%–45% band, and payments are frozen for those above that.

The Public Pension Strengthening People's Action strongly denounced the Lee Jae-myung administration — which has long championed universal welfare — for unveiling a selective-welfare overhaul plan that is a sly gimmick, 'more for the lower, less for the upper' in name only.

Even Yoon Seok-myung, Research Fellow Emeritus at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) and a member of the Pension Future Forum who places great weight on fiscal stability, raised his voice, saying that passage of the overhaul plan must be blocked for the sake of the nation's future.

https://www.widedaily.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=300478