Within the Democratic Party of Korea, a claim has emerged that the current National Pension Service governance structure—under which the Ministry of Health and Welfare oversees both the system and the fund—should be overhauled. The idea is to fix the Health and Welfare Ministry–centric structure to strengthen the National Pension Service's political independence and subscriber representation. Various options, including moving the National Pension Fund Management Committee under the presidential office, are expected to be discussed within the ruling party.
Park Hong-bae, a Democratic Party lawmaker on the National Assembly special committee on pension reform, held a forum on the theme of "National Pension Service governance reform" at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the morning of the 17th. The forum was co-hosted by Democratic Party lawmakers Min Byeong-deok, Kim Nam-geun, Kim Nam-hee, Mo Gyeong-jong, Park Hee-seung, Lee Kang-il, and Lee Hoon-gi.
Park said, "Thanks to the KOSPI's rise, the National Pension Service's entrusted balance exceeded 1.6 quadrillion won as of February," adding, "The National Pension fund is the public's retirement asset and affects the stability of the Republic of Korea's capital market, yet change has been far too slow. Shouldn't the National Pension fund under the Lee Jae-myung administration, which promised a 'nation worthy of the name,' be different?"
Lee Chang-min, head of the Economic Reform Research Institute, who delivered the keynote, proposed three options to reform National Pension Service governance under the grand principle of "separating the system from fund management." Lee said, "Option 1 is to place the National Pension Fund Management Committee, the body with ultimate responsibility for fund management, under the presidential office," adding, "The Health and Welfare Ministry would continue to handle the pension system, fiscal design, and contribution–benefit structure, but the arrangement in which the Minister of Health and Welfare concurrently serves as chair of the Fund Management Committee would be dissolved."
He went on, "Option 2 is to establish a National Pension Fund Management Corporation, designed with political independence from the executive branch in mind," adding, "The corporation's board would serve as the Fund Management Committee." Lee presented as option 3 a plan to make the Fund Management Committee permanent and smaller, elite in composition, to strengthen accountability.
Park said, "Under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, we saw nominees recommended by recommending organizations to the Fund Management Committee being changed to suit the Health and Welfare Ministry's preferences, which made me think, 'Is it right to leave the National Pension Service to the ministry?'" adding, "Given the longstanding dissatisfaction with the National Pension Service's financial transparency, I plan to compile the forum's views and propose amendments to the National Pension Act."
After last year's National Pension Service parametric reform, the National Assembly's special committee on pension had been at a standstill, but it is expected to be fully activated after the formation of the 22nd National Assembly's latter-half leadership. The committee is likely to discuss issues such as converting retirement pensions into a pooled fund and a "bottom-up basic pension (a method that supports low-income earners more than high-income earners)." A committee official said, "The activities of the private advisory committee under the special committee ended last month, and a meeting is expected to be scheduled to receive the advisory committee's report."