(Yonhap News TV Report on the Government Employees Pension Accrued Liability, April 8, 2021) Half of National Liabilities Are Accrued Pension Liabilities for Government Employees and Military Personnel — "Reform Needed" (Posted April 17, 2026)

Half of national liabilities are accrued pension

liabilities for the Government Employees Pension and Military Pension —

"Reform Needed"


[Anchor]

We previously reported that last year our national liabilities exceeded the gross domestic product.

More than half of this amount was the present value estimate of pensions to be paid to retired civil servants and military personnel.

Amid the trend of low fertility and aging, the need for pension reform is emerging.

Reporter Cho Sung-mi reports.

[Reporter]

Out of last year's national liabilities of 1,985 trillion won, 1,044.7 trillion won is the accrued pension liability, which is the present value of pensions to be paid to retired civil servants and military personnel in the future.

This increased by 100.5 trillion won compared to a year ago, with accrued pension liabilities for government employees increasing by 71.4 trillion won and those for military personnel by 29.1 trillion won.

The government explained that as the discount rate was adjusted due to recent low interest rates, the portion of the increase in present value of liabilities amounted to 86.4 trillion won, accounting for most of the 100 trillion won increase.

[Kim Sun-gil / Director of the Accounting and Settlement Division, Ministry of Economy and Finance] "This is the part where future estimated pension amounts are discounted to present value.

Looking at fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2017 as well, accrued pension liabilities continued to increase by around the mid-90 trillion won range; most of this was the effect of the decline in the discount rate."

Even if the illusion caused by financial factors was significant, 14.1 trillion won is the portion that increased as the number of beneficiaries grew due to factors such as an increase in the number of civil servants.

Due to the depletion of reserves for both pensions, the amount the government subsidizes is projected to reach 5.2 trillion won the year after next, up from 4 trillion won this year.

[Professor Kim Won-sik / Department of Economics and Trade, Konkuk University] "The issue of pension reform is not something to be solved by a single government; it must be carried out gradually to a certain extent by each incoming government. The accrued pension liability should be reduced over at least 20 to 30 years..."

In a situation where low fertility, aging, and low interest rates continue, the urgency to commence pension reform is increasing.

This has been Cho Sung-mi, Yonhap News TV.