President Lee: Stock Market Stabilization is Key to Pension Reform

President Lee Jae-myung stated on June 5 that "the normalization of the stock market has significantly reduced the need for pension restructuring and the associated pain of that process."

He made these comments while sharing an article on X (formerly Twitter) that discussed how the recent strength in the domestic stock market could delay the depletion of the National Pension Fund.

President Lee emphasized that "the normalization of stock valuations, which are representative assets of South Korea, is a good means for painless pension reform," adding that "the normalization of South Korea will continue."

The article indicated that the improvement in the National Pension Fund's returns due to the strong domestic stock market could push back the projected depletion date of the fund. According to Kim Yong-ha, a professor at Soonchunhyang University, if the increased fund size from last year to this year is taken into account, the depletion date could be delayed from 2071 to 2095, a difference of 24 years.

This projection assumes that the fund's average annual return will be 5.5% starting next year, while other variables, such as demographic changes and long-term economic growth rates, remain consistent with the figures used during last year's pension reform discussions.

The article reported that the National Pension Fund has grown from 1,458 trillion won at the end of last year to approximately 1,800 trillion won by the end of May this year.