Minister Jung Eun-kyeong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said in a New Year's address on Jan. 1 that "we will realize 'a robust welfare nation with strong fundamentals, a Republic of Korea where everyone is happy' amid a rapidly changing social environment."
Jung said, "We will strengthen the state's responsibility for care," and noted, "We will bolster health and medical coverage from pregnancy through after childbirth, including raising the age threshold for the child allowance by one year each year through 2030."
Jung added, "We will build a basic livelihood safety net," and said, "We will establish a dense income safety net and reduce people's out-of-pocket medical costs through measures such as expanding livelihood benefits, supporting National Pension insurance premiums for low-income regional subscribers, strengthening military service and childbirth credits, and increasing senior jobs."
The Minister said, "We will build a dense regional medical system, secure personnel for essential disciplines and medically underserved areas, and at the same time strengthen compensation for essential care," adding, "We will establish an emergency medical system that saves people's lives."
Jung went on to say, "We will support a leap to become a biohealth powerhouse and actively push pension reform to ensure a stable old age," and added, "To respond to demographic changes, we will reorganize the Low Fertility and Aging Society Committee into a control tower that handles population issues overall."