Democratic lawmaker introduces bill to strengthen national pension subscriber representation and expertise

Rep. Park Hong-bae of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, announced Friday that he had introduced a bill to amend the National Pension Act, aimed at making subscriber representation on pension-related committees more realistic and strengthening the expertise and accountability of fund management.

The bill was drafted to reflect opinions from stakeholders — including labor, business and expert groups — raised at a National Assembly forum on national pension governance reform held in June.

At the forum, participants broadly agreed on the need to strengthen the independence, accountability, expertise and representativeness of fund management. Some said a full restructuring of the organization and its affiliations would require further discussion, given the government's responsibilities and the relationship between system administration and fund management.

There was wide agreement, however, on the need to reflect the changed composition of subscribers in committee membership, clarify the representativeness of recommending organizations, and strengthen both subscriber representation and fund management expertise. Participants also called for the appointment of standing committee members and an expanded role for specialist subcommittees to address the limitations of the non-standing fund management committee.

In response, Park moved to legislate the priorities on which consensus had been reached at the forum. The subscriber representation structure on national pension-related committees has remained largely unchanged since 1998. As of end-2024, workplace subscribers accounted for about 76.2 percent of all enrollees and regional subscribers about 19.4 percent, yet employer, employee and regional subscriber representatives on the current fund management committee each number six — a structure critics say no longer reflects the actual composition of the subscriber base.

The national pension fund reached 1,848.7 trillion won ($1.33 trillion) as of the end of May, and its influence on the national economy and capital markets has grown. The bill argues that a decision-making framework with not only subscriber representation but also expertise, accountability and continuous oversight is now necessary.

Key provisions of the bill include restructuring the recommendation systems for employer, employee and regional subscriber representatives on the National Pension Deliberation Committee, the Fund Management Committee, specialist subcommittees and working-level evaluation committees to center on nationally representative organizations; adjusting the representation structure for workplace and regional subscribers to match the actual subscriber composition; requiring that at least half of fund management committee members recommended by subscriber groups possess expertise in the national pension system or fund management; designating three fund management committee members as standing members to strengthen continuous deliberation capacity and accountability; and having standing members chair the field-specific fund management specialist subcommittees, with the qualifications and recommendation procedures for specialist committee members set directly in law.

"Because the national pension is a mandatory social insurance scheme, democratic control and representation by subscribers must be substantively guaranteed," Park said. "At the same time, the top decision-making body managing the retirement assets of the people — which have grown to 1,848 trillion won — must also be equipped with the expertise and accountability that role demands." He added that he would work to build a national pension governance structure that harmonizes subscriber representation with expertise, enhancing the legitimacy of fund management and public trust.