(Chairman Oh Gun-ho, who wrote this column, five months before the Basic Old-Age Pension — the predecessor of today’s Basic Pension — was introduced,

opposed the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s pension reform and argued for introducing the Basic Pension under the Democratic Labor Party’s plan.

the introduction of the Basic Pension under the Grand National Party’s plan — which Professor Kim Yong-ha of Soonchunhyang University had also advocated for — together with him,

he was a leading proponent of a universal Basic Pension.

At the time, the Roh Moo-hyun administration was devoting all its efforts to National Pension fiscal stabilization measures based on the first National Pension financial projection.

The decisive reason why the “income replacement rate 50%–contribution rate 15.9%” proposal — the Roh Moo-hyun administration’s National Pension reform plan — was thwarted

was the insistence of the then-opposition Grand National Party and Democratic Labor Party on introducing a universal Basic Pension — and in light of that fact,

there ought to be an explanation for this change in position!

Below is the title of the column that at the time emphasized the introduction of a universal Basic Pension, and its website.

‘The Basic Pension System’ — Find the Real Stem Cells (2006.11.6)

https://m.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/Mobile/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000371330&CMPT_CD=SEARCH#cb

The above website has been posted in the Pension Future Forum’s resource archive category since February 1, 2026.)

A few days ago, President Lee Jae-myung said, “An older person with a monthly income of several million won and an older person with zero income receive the same Basic Pension amount. Now, couldn’t we pay a little more generously to some of the poorer older people?” — thereby proposing a “more for the lower, less for the upper” Basic Pension.

Currently the Basic Pension is a system that pays the same amount to everyone; this means shifting to a ‘minimum guarantee’ method that pays more generously the lower a person’s income is.

I fully agree. The current Basic Pension pays 350,000 won a month to 70% of older people. Under this benefit structure, because the Basic Pension is paid to 70% of older people, it is difficult to raise the amount substantially, so its effect in reducing poverty is not large. In a country like ours, where elderly poverty is severe, the Basic Pension needs to be reworked, and that is the reason the President put forward this proposal.

Converting the Basic Pension to a “more for the lower, less for the upper” structure is also a key task in Korea’s pension reform. Last year, the National Pension achieved partial fiscal stabilization by adjusting the contribution rate and the income replacement rate, and the next task is to restructure the Basic Pension in a direction that is effective at improving elderly poverty.

In the past, there were also arguments for expanding the Basic Pension to all older people and converting it into a universal Basic Pension, but

such voices are difficult to find in recent times.

Instead, the argument that is gaining strength is that, even if the scope of application is gradually narrowed, the amount should be raised progressively so as to provide greater support to older people whose livelihoods are difficult.

President Lee Jae-myung’s view on the Basic Pension reflects this trend, and it is a proposal that has already been considered substantially within the Ministry of Health and Welfare as well. Taking the President’s proposal as an occasion, the Ministry should prepare a concrete overhaul plan, and the National Assembly, too, should actively move to amend the Basic Pension Act.

https://n.news.naver.com/article/032/0003434171?sid=110