(KBS, Report on the Pension Future Forum's Claim That the Citizen Representatives Should Vote Again) Pension Future Forum: “Key Information Was Omitted from the Pension Reform Public Deliberation Process — A Revote Is Needed” (April 24, 2024)
In the public deliberation on National Pension reform,
the participating citizen representatives
chose the 'pay more, receive more' plan
in greater numbers, and in response
pension researchers
have argued that there were problems
in the deliberation process
and that a revote
is needed.
Yun Suk-myung,
Research Fellow Emeritus
at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA),
and other pension researchers
make up the 'Pension Future Forum,' which
issued a position statement today (the 24th)
saying that key content had not been conveyed
during the citizen representatives'
learning process for the public deliberation
on National Pension reform, and urged
that the vote be held again.
Earlier, on the 22nd, the Public Deliberation Committee under the National Assembly Special Committee on Pension Reform announced that a majority — 56.0% — of the 492 citizen representatives who took part in the final survey had chosen the 'income-security plan.'
At its core, the plan raises the contribution rate from the current 9% to 13% and the income replacement rate from 40% to 50% as well, so as to guarantee an adequate old-age income.
Regarding this outcome,
the Pension Future Forum stated:
"The 'pay more, receive more' plan ultimately chosen
increases the cumulative deficit by roughly
2,700 trillion won compared with the other plan,
but that information
was not provided to the citizen representatives,
and content related to
the lifetime contribution rate burden by generation
was likewise omitted."
It further said that the citizen representatives
had not been told of the difference in the scale of the pension fund's deficit,
the lifetime contribution rate burden by generation,
and the ratio of national debt to GDP, among other things,
and on that basis it called on
the Public Deliberation Committee to inform them of
the key content that had been omitted
and to have them vote
one more time.
[Photo source: Yonhap News]
