South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday pledged to reform the country’s multibillion-dollar pension scheme, as a looming demographic crisis threatens to upend the payment system’s stability.
South Korea has the world’s lowest birthrate and a rapidly aging population. The number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime dropped to 0.72 last year, far below the so-called replacement rate needed to keep a population stable.
The country’s pension fund is the world’s third-largest, but with insufficient new contributors due to the demographic crisis, the fund is expected to deplete rapidly.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We need to fundamentally reform the current pension system, which works poorly for the elderly and has not got the trust of the youth,” Yoon said at a policy briefing.
South Korea’s pension fund is valued at more than 1,113.5 trillion won (US$837.5 billion), but projections by the government indicate that the fund’s growth would cease by 2041, and it is anticipated to be depleted by 2055.
This is largely because eligibility for full pension benefits was rare in the past, but since then, those able to receive pensions more easily — baby boomers — are beginning to retire after a lifetime of contributions.
The reforms would aim to create a sustainable system providing “intergenerational fairness and income security after retirement” to “restore trust in the National Pension Service,” Yoon said.
About two-fifths of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s said the pension system needs to be reformed “to ensure that I can receive a pension in the future,” a recent poll showed.
Yoon said he would push for reforms acceptable to the young generation who “pay the longest, pay the highest premium, and are the last to receive a pension.”
He also announced plans to extend credit benefits to people who have children or complete military service, so “there is no gap in the pension subscription period.”
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia. Kirk, 31, who helped amplify US President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university. In Seoul on Friday last week, he spoke about how he “brought Trump to victory,” while addressing Build Up Korea 2025, a conservative conference
China has approved the creation of a national nature reserve at the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島), claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines, the government said yesterday, as Beijing moves to reinforce its territorial claims in the contested region. A notice posted online by the Chinese State Council said that details about the area and size of the project would be released separately by the Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration. “The building of the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve is an important guarantee for maintaining the diversity, stability and sustainability of the natural ecosystem of Huangyan Island,” the notice said. Scarborough
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
RSS