Minister Jung Eun-kyeong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare stressed that the deferral of the National Pension rebalancing (asset allocation adjustment) carried out early this year was a step taken in view of market volatility, not a politically motivated move conscious of local elections.
The Minister answered this way to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Cho Bae-suk about National Pension rebalancing during a Health and Welfare Committee work report on the 19th.
The Minister said, "When we decided on the deferral in January this year, domestic stocks had risen very sharply and there was market volatility, so it was not easy to judge," and "when allocating the medium-term asset mix in May this year, the intent was to monitor and analyze for about six months." In particular, the Minister added, "If we mechanically applied the rebalancing rules created when the fund size was at the 700 trillion won level in 2019, there could be problems with the fund's profitability and stability, so we deferred for about six months."
The Minister drew a line against the criticism that rebalancing was deferred for political purposes. The Minister explained, "The Fund Management Committee is structured so that representatives from each sector, including contributors and beneficiaries, gather and make decisions with representativeness," and "the claim that stocks were not sold until the local elections and were sold only afterward does not hold."
National Pension Service (NPS) Chairman Kim Sung-ju made a statement to the same effect. The chairman said, "From May 2025, the KOSPI rose from below 3,000 to nearly double in just one year. It was difficult for experts to judge whether this was a structural cause indicating a fundamental change in the market, or a temporary cause due to the semiconductor boom," and explained, "So (at the January Fund Management Committee meeting) we decided not to make an immediate decision but to watch for six months."
The chairman added, "(Through the medium-term asset allocation plan) there was a rule to assess (asset adjustments) at the end of May each year and apply the decision from July," and "the local elections happened to fall within that period; the claim that we did not sell until the election and sold afterward does not hold. I mention this to dispel misunderstandings."