Pension Future Forum: "The National Pension Fund — Citizens' Retirement Income — Must Not Be Squandered as Petty Cash for Exchange-Rate Intervention"

As the government put forward the option of deploying the National Pension Fund to defend against the sharp rise in the exchange rate, a professional association of pension specialists announced its opposition.

The Pension Future Forum convened its 9th Seminar on December 3 at the Franciscan Center in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, and issued an emergency statement declaring that "the National Pension Fund — which constitutes citizens' retirement income — must not be squandered as petty cash for exchange-rate intervention."

In its statement on that day, the Pension Future Forum noted that "the recent sharp rise in the exchange rate (a precipitous fall in the value of the won) is largely attributable to a decline in relative value driven by an excessively large money supply," and added that "an internal disorder has produced the external symptom of a surge in the exchange rate — yet the notion of attempting to treat it by applying the National Pension Fund as an ointment must be abandoned immediately."

The Forum continued: "The National Pension Fund Management Committee — duly established under the National Pension Act with the Minister of Health and Welfare as its chair — already exists. Why, then, is a consultative body being created to deliberate on the direction of fund management? Is the government's intention not to squander the National Pension, the retirement fund of the entire nation, as petty cash?"

The Pension Future Forum argued that "if the government regards the National Pension Fund — which constitutes citizens' retirement income and the individual property rights of every citizen — as petty cash to be spent at will, it will face fierce resistance from the youth of the Republic of Korea, future generations, and the people at large."

https://n.news.naver.com/article/081/0003597833?sid=102