Professor Sung-Jae Choi participated as a panelist in United Nation (UN) 12th Open-ended Working Group on Ageing (Economic Security part on April 13th, 2022). He shared economic security system to protect the human rights of older persons in South Korea. Sung-Jae Choi is an advisor to the ASEM Global Ageing Center and we would like to share his presentation on the website to inform the circumstances of older persons in South Korea.
Sung-Jae Choi is professor emeritus of Seoul National University in South Korea, and present advisor to the ASEM Global Ageing Center, UN representative of the IAGG.
This part introduces the overview of Korean economic security system for old age. 1st tier is basic allowance for persons in poverty, 2nd tier is national pension, 3rd is occupational pension, 4th is individual pension, and 5th is reverse mortgage pension of housing and farmland. housing and farmland pensions are monthly subsidies from the government with housing or farmland as collateral.
National basic living security program is one of public assistance in South Korea and this program consists of four main categories, which are educational assistance, housing assistance, medical assistance, livelihood assistance. Persons under 50% of standard median income receive this program but not all of them receive benefits in four categories. As shown in the figure above, lower 30% receives all four benefits, lower 40% receives three, lower 45% receives two, and lower 50% receives only education assistance.
Basic pension program is another public assistance program in Korea, which provides benefits to lower 70% of older Koreans. Non-recipients of public pension receives maximum amount of benefits, however recipients of public pension receive reduced amount of benefits.
