KARP Statement

KARP (Korea Association of Retired Persons) Statement

“Stop Pension Politics Without Citizens, Stop Using Experts as Pawns in Partisan Struggles, and Begin Reform for Future Generations!”

Pension politics without citizens must end now!

The Special Committee on National Pension Reform is about to be launched in the National Assembly. However, its current direction is not toward genuine reform for the people’s retirement security and for future generations, but toward “pension politics without citizens,” trapped in partisan calculations of political gain and power struggles. Pensions are not the spoils of any particular party; they are a national social contract that all generations must safeguard together.

Stop using experts as pawns in partisan struggles!

Concerns are mounting that world-class fiscal and pension experts, with deep knowledge of pension finance and international systems, may be deliberately excluded from committee appointments due to partisan calculations of advantage and loss. Reform discussions without these experts will likely fail international scrutiny and jeopardize fiscal soundness. In the long term, this could undermine public trust in the National Pension system itself and leave future generations with unsustainable burdens.

Urgent need for reform that ensures citizen participation and meets international standards!

Reform cannot succeed without citizen participation and consent. The National Assembly and the government must institutionalize concrete procedures for participation throughout the entire reform process—such as public hearings, citizen referendums, and real-time information disclosure. Major pension reforms around the world have followed the principles of transparency and long-term fiscal stability recommended by international experts. Sweden and Germany, for example, secured intergenerational fairness through repeated public deliberation, while the OECD and the International Labour Organization (ILO) emphasize that “fiscal stability and citizen participation are the keys to sustainable pensions.” Korea too must urgently design reforms that reflect these international standards.

Therefore, KARP strongly demands the following three measures:

1. Mandatory citizen participationEnsure transparency in the entire reform process by institutionalizing public hearings, citizen referendums, and full disclosure of information.

2. Exclusion of partisan strifePolitical parties must abandon election-driven maneuvers and prioritize long-term fiscal stability plans.

3. Intergenerational solidarityEstablish contribution–benefit structures that fairly distribute burdens between current and future generations.

We emphasize once again: reform that ignores international standards and expert validation is doomed to fail from the start. Pension reform is not a contest between political parties, but a social contract for the sustainability of the Republic of Korea and the well-being of its future generations.

September 15, 2025

KARP (President:Juch Myong-Yong)