Yoon touts pension reform drive

Aug 30, 2024, 10:02 am

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President Yoon suk-yeol delivers a speech during his briefing on state affairs at a press conference at the presidential office in Seoul on August 29, 2024./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Hong Sun-mi

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday vowed to realize four major reform initiatives, which will affect the national pension system as well as health care, education and labor, presenting sustainability, fairness and income security as three key principles of the envisioned reform.

Yoon called for the introduction of an automatic stabilization mechanism, under which pension parameters or benefits automatically change in line with changes in demographic, economic or other factors. He also said the government will push for enacting a law that provides a state guarantee for pension payments due to people when they retire amid concerns about the fund drawdown.

“The reform process will be a tough road, but I will not take the easy one,” Yoon said during a televised press briefing, expressing his willingness to complete the four reform drives.

Yoon vowed to differentiate the pension contribution rates for young and old generations, while gradually raising their contribution rates. He also pledged to innovate the basic monthly pension, retirement pension, and personal pension system to guarantee the retirement of ordinary and middle-class people.

Now that the plan to increase medical school admissions has been finalized, Yoon said the government will focus its policy efforts on delivering essential medical services, as well as on ensuring high-quality health care throughout the country, making it clear that there is no room for reconsideration of the postponement of medical school admission quota hike claimed by the medical community and the ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon.

Regarding education reform, the government promised to introduce digital textbooks, and innovate local universities. On labor reform, he presented a blueprint to create a labor market where the number of jobs increase by expanding the freedom of choice of workers and companies through various forms of flexible work.

Regarding the record-low birth rate, Yoon said the government will launch a task force next month, as the first step toward establishing a new ministry to tackle the low birth rate and the aging population.

#Yoon Suk-yeol #pension reform