Key Points of the 2025 National Pension Reform Plan

A National Pension reform plan to respond to the risk of fund depletion has been passed with bipartisan agreement.
This reform plan follows a 'pay more, receive more' approach, raising the contribution rate from the current 9% to 13% and the income replacement rate from 40% to 43%.
Taking effect in 2026, this reform plan has the effect of delaying the fund depletion date by 8 years (to 2064).
Both the ruling and opposition parties are facing strong internal backlash over intergenerational fairness.
In particular, young lawmakers are criticizing it as "plundering future generations," saying "the young pay more, while the older generation receives more."
Within the ruling party, backlash continues, with the pension special committee resigning en masse and a majority abstaining or voting against it in the plenary session.
Here is a brief summary of this reform plan.

<Summary of key changes>
:Pay more, receive more approach
- Contribution rate: raised from 9% → 13%
- Income replacement rate: raised from 40% → 43%
: Based on average income, pay 120,000 won more per month and receive 90,000 won more
Effective date : Scheduled to take effect from 2026
Effect: Fund depletion delayed by 8 years (2056 → 2064)
Significance: The first parametric pension reform in 18 years, since the Roh Moo-hyun administration
<Core of the controversy>
- "Strong internal backlash in both the ruling and opposition parties over intergenerational fairness"
- "Criticism that it is a 'stopgap measure' that reached a political agreement but put off substantive structural reform"

We will explain the details more thoroughly in the next summary.