(Dailian Report on the Government Employees Pension Accrued Liability, July 28, 2026) National Liabilities of 2,772 Trillion Won — Strip Out the National Pension and Net Assets Are -636 Trillion Won [Warning Lights on the National Books ①] (Posted September 13, 2026)

(National liabilities up 186 trillion won in a year…

Government bonds and the accrued pension liability expand
65% of the increase in assets

driven by the National Pension…

A call to manage long-term fiscal risk)

Last year the national budget was managed amid a succession of variables such as political uncertainty, the launch of a new government, the large-scale wildfires in the Yeongnam region, and U.S. tariff policy.

The government drew up two supplementary budgets before and after the June presidential election, and total expenditures rose from 673.3 trillion won in the original budget to 703.3 trillion won.

Actual total expenditures were 684.1 trillion won and total revenues 637.4 trillion won. The managed fiscal balance recorded a deficit of 104.2 trillion won.

As the role of the public finances has grown, the state's financial capacity to bear it has become correspondingly more important.

In the 'National Financial Statements for Fiscal Year 2025' analyzed by the National Assembly Budget Office, however, an expansion of liabilities and a deepening reliance on borrowing were confirmed alongside the increase in assets.

At the end of last year, national liabilities stood at 2,772 trillion won, up 186.3 trillion won, or 7.2%, from a year earlier.

Compared with the 774 trillion won of 2011, the year the national financial statements were first submitted to the National Assembly, that is an increase of 1,998 trillion won over 14 years.

Government bonds led the increase in liabilities.

Government bonds rose by 139.9 trillion won in a year, and

the accrued pension liability, which reflects the amounts payable in the future under the Government Employees and Military pension schemes, also rose by 31.5 trillion won.

At the end of last year, the accrued pension liability, made up of 1,076.4 trillion won for the Government Employees Pension and 268.1 trillion won for the Military Pension, among others,

came to 1,344.4 trillion won in total.

The national debt, which is calculated on a cash basis, was 1,304.5 trillion won, but the gap with national liabilities, which reflect future payment obligations and the like on an accrual basis, reached 1,467.5 trillion won.

That difference widened by 242.9 trillion won in four years, from 1,224.6 trillion won in 2021.

The ratio of national liabilities to gross domestic product also stood at 103.6%, having exceeded 100% since 2023.

The net assets visible on the surface did increase.

Total national assets stood at 3,593.4 trillion won and net assets at 821.5 trillion won, up 375 trillion won and 188.8 trillion won, respectively, from a year earlier.

However, 244.3 trillion won, or 65.1% of the increase in assets, came from growth in the assets of the National Pension Fund.

Rising valuations of domestic and foreign equities and the like drove the overall increase in assets.

The National Pension Fund is a social insurance fund that accumulates and invests the contributions paid by the public and pays them out later as pensions.

It is different in character from assets the government can spend as freely as it does the general budget.

Excluding it, total national assets come to 2,134.6 trillion won,

total liabilities to 2,771.2 trillion won, and net assets turn to minus 636.5 trillion won.

The Budget Office said, "Not only cash-basis indicators such as the national debt and the managed fiscal balance but also changes in accrual-basis indicators such as the national liabilities ratio, the borrowing-dependency ratio, and the ratio of net borrowing liabilities to gross domestic product must be analyzed comprehensively," and

emphasized, "These indicators need to be actively used in the medium- and long-term fiscal outlook and the National Debt Management Plan in order to manage long-term fiscal risks such as interest costs and the burden of pension payments."

https://n.news.naver.com/article/119/0003115482?sid=101