August 2025
28Aug

Japan and South Korea Task Force To Tackle Birth Rate Crisis

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have agreed to launch a joint task force to tackle shared issues of concern, including birth rates. Why It Matters More than half of the world's countries now have total fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman needed to sustain a population. Longer lifespans, rising living costs and shifting social attitudes among younger generations have contributed to the decline. South Korea (0.75) and Japan (1.15) have among the...

August 28, 2025
News, Uncategorized, ,
Read more...

October 2024
25Oct

Well-Being of Older People in East Asia: The People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea

By Hidehiko Ichimura, Xiaoyan Lei, Chulhee Lee, Jinkook Lee, Albert Park, & Yasuyuki Sawada East Asia is undergoing a rapid demographic transition and “super” aging. As a result of steadily decreasing fertility and increasing life expectancy, older people’s proportion of the population and the old-age dependency ratio is rising across all countries in East Asia, particularly in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ROK). In this paper, we empirically investigate the well-being of older...

October 25, 2024
Aging, Articles, , , , ,
Read more...
14Oct

30% of young Koreans support abolition of national pension system: poll

About 30 percent of Koreans, aged between 18 and 49, support the abolition of the national pension system amid waning public trust in the fund, a recent poll shows. According to a survey, released on Sunday, people in those age groups share a distrust of the sustainability of the fund, which is expected to be depleted around 30 years in the future. Asked to choose one of four options to improve its financial soundness — increasing the premium rate, focusing on...

October 14, 2024
News,
Read more...

February 2022
22Feb

One of Top Korean Banks to Launch Crypto Fund

Kookmin Bank, one of the four largest banks ranked by asset value in South Korea, is set to launch its own cryptocurrency investment fund. Read also Canadian Pensions Bankrolling Elder Abuse and Misappropriation of Public Money by French Long-term Care Multinational: CUPE According to an announcement, the so-called Digital Asset Management Committee will work on a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). Although the timetable is unclear, the bank said it plans to speed up its efforts after the country gets more clear...

February 22, 2022
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

June 2021
11Jun

Risk-Adjusted Valuation in the Worker’s Economic Decision Making

By Hangsuck Lee, Doojin Ryu, Jihoon Son We suggest an overlapping generations model incorporating the risk-adjusted valuation in a worker’s decision problem. The risk-adjusted probabilities allow risk-averse workers to place more weight on cash flows upon retirement when assessing lifetime income at present value. The risk-adjusted valuation is consistently applied to any non-financial asset, allowing them to be evaluated collectively or separately. We predict capital returns under demographic structure, consumption preference, and social security policy changes. Source: SSRN 532 views

June 11, 2021
Articles, Pension design, , , ,
Read more...

October 2020

21Oct

South Korea. NPS partners with Dutch pension fund for global investments

South Korea’s biggest institutional investor, the National Pension Service, has forged a partnership with Dutch retirement fund operator APG Asset Management to invest in European and Asian markets, according to the Korean fund operator. APG, which managed assets worth 538 billion euros ($637.4 billion) as of the end of 2019, invests in the private education, construction and energy sectors on behalf of Dutch state-run fund ABP. Before forging the partnership, APG and the NPS jointly invested in a...

October 21, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

June 2020

29Jun

NPS and Allianz to set up $2.3 bn Asian property fund

The National Pension Service (NPS) is to launch a $2.3 billion property fund with Germany’s Allianz SE to invest in core real estate in Asia, with the pension scheme expected to deploy at least 30 trillion won ($25 billion) in new alternative investments by year’s end. Read also Dutch schemes fail to push management fees below 0.5% threshold The 50:50 co-investment fund will target landmark office buildings and logistics and residential facilities in big cities in Asia such as Australia,...

June 29, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...

September 2018

14Sep

Australia can give pointers on pension reform to Korea

Head of investment firm says much was learned in 24 years Worries about the state pension fund have grown in Korea, as it may run out of money as Korea’s population ages. That has led many people to look for models abroad. Some are pointing to Australia’s superannuation corporate pension fund. Put simply, the superannuation system mandates an employer put aside a set portion of workers’ salary as a pension fund to be managed by a board trusted by workers. Australia is considered...

September 14, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...

August 2018

14Aug

Korea. Public against national pension changes

People are becoming more worried about life after retirement as the government is seeking to extend the mandatory national pension subscription period by five years to better finance the depleting pension fund. According to the National Pension Service (NPS), the pension fund is expected to bottom out by 2056 or 2057, three to four years earlier than the NPS predicted five years ago. So the government is contemplating extending the subscription period to the age of 65 from the current...

August 14, 2018
News, Slider,
Read more...

July 2018

31Jul

Korea. NPS adopting stewardship code

The National Pension Service (NPS), Korea’s largest institutional investor, is adopting a stewardship code that will allow it to engage in management decisions of the companies it invests in. The decision is getting strong opposition from the business community. After holding two meetings since last week, the National Pension Fund Management Committee decided to exercise limited rights when companies it invests in are hurting the interest of its clients, which is the Korean public with pensions, according to the Ministry of...

July 31, 2018
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...