October 2026
08Oct

South Korea. Homeplus launches voluntary retirement program

South Korea’s Homeplus announced on Oct. 7 that it has launched a voluntary retirement program as it seeks to cut fixed costs and stabilize operations after sharply reducing its store network during its prolonged financial difficulties. The troubled discount chain noted that it began accepting applications Wednesday and will continue through Oct. 22. Employees who participate are scheduled to leave the company Oct. 31. The retailer said that unpaid wages, Chuseok holiday bonuses and statutory severance payments for participating employees are...

October 8, 2026
News,
Read more...

September 2026
07Sep

South Korea. Prepare for era of extreme aging

Korea is on course to have the world’s oldest population by 2060, overtaking Japan. The projection is more than a demographic curiosity. It is a warning that one of the world’s most advanced economies is approaching an unprecedented test of its pension, health care, labor and fiscal systems. According to a 2025 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the share of Korea’s population aged 65 and over is projected to rise from 20.3 percent last year to 41 percent in...

September 7, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
03Sep

South Korea. Basic Pension Reform Criticized as Populist, Ineffective

“If this is the case, they shouldn’t have touched it at all… They’ve kept the structure intact while only increasing the financial burden on future generations. It’s like telling an overweight patient with adult diseases to lose weight, only to add more fat.” Yoon Seok-myung, 65, a senior honorary researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, evaluated the government’s basic pension reform plan in an interview with this newspaper on the 1st, stating, “Money is being indiscriminately...

September 3, 2026
News,
Read more...

August 2026
25Aug

South Korea’s pension recipients rise 5.6% in 2024

South Korea's pension recipients aged 65 and older rose 5.6 per cent to 9,122,000 in 2024, driven by a rapidly aging population, the Ministry of Data and Statistics said Tuesday (Aug 25). The average monthly pension payout rose 6.0 per cent from a year earlier to 737,000 won (about US$530) in 2024. Men received an average of 957,000 won, while women averaged 546,000 won. Those aged 65-69 received 858,000 won, compared with 577,000 won for people aged 80 and older. Among...

August 25, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
24Aug

South Korea. Elderly income up 80% in a decade, but pension gap triples

South Korea's elderly are moving away from relying on allowances from their children, with public pensions — the national pension and the basic pension — becoming the primary source of income in old age. Annual income per elderly person rose roughly 80 percent over the past decade driven by public pensions, and the share of seniors receiving both the national pension and the basic pension nearly doubled. Yet the income gap between those receiving the national pension and those dependent solely...

August 24, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
20Aug

South Korea’s Pension Fund Faces Backlash Over Chinese AI IPO Bets

The National Pension Service (NPS), which manages the precious retirement funds of the people, has been engulfed in a fierce controversy over transparency and ethical management standards as it was revealed that it has continuously invested in the initial public offerings (IPOs) of Chinese military and security-linked companies. In a situation where major advanced nations, including the United States, are strengthening measures to prohibit investments in Chinese military-related companies amid accelerating U.S.-China security conflicts, criticisms are erupting from within and...

August 20, 2026
News,
Read more...
12Aug

Ghana. GH¢35.5 Billion in SSNIT Assets: What Does It Mean to the Pensioner?

Assets Under Management Do Not Pay the Bills In financial terminology, Assets Under Management (AUM) represents the total market value of the equities, government securities, real estate, and commercial holdings that an institution manages. It measures organizational scale, balance-sheet footprint, and capital accumulation. But an impressive AUM is a measure of portfolio size, not a measure of social protection. For the vast majority of SSNIT’s roughly 240,000 pensioners, around 80% of whom receive monthly payouts hovering around GH¢1,000, and thousands more...

August 12, 2026
News,
Read more...
11Aug

South Korea’s National Pension Service Grapples with Worsening Talent Shortage; Only 18 Hires for 26 Openings

The National Pension Service (NPS) Fund Management Division's experienced hire recruitment drive, which began in April, concluded last month, falling significantly short of its hiring targets. The division aimed to recruit 26 professionals but ultimately hired only 18. This outcome has intensified concerns over a worsening talent shortage at the division, which requires highly specialized personnel. According to ALIO, South Korea's public institution management information system, on the 11th, the NPS selected a total of 18 final candidates in its...

August 11, 2026
News,
Read more...

June 2026
29Jun

South Korean Lawmaker Proposes Counting Crypto, Overseas Assets in Basic Pension Eligibility

A bill has been proposed in South Korea to include virtual assets, or cryptocurrencies, and overseas financial assets in property assessments used to determine eligibility for the basic pension. Pinpoint News reported on June 29 that Rep. Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, introduced an amendment to the Basic Pension Act. The bill would add cryptocurrencies and overseas financial assets above a set threshold to the assets used in calculating...

June 29, 2026
News, ,
Read more...
18Jun

South Korea. Pension Savings Balances Near 200 Trillion Won

Last year, driven by a bullish stock market, pension savings balances neared 200 trillion Korean won, with annual returns exceeding 10%. Notably, annual returns for pension savings funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approached 30%. Pension savings are voluntary products individuals join in addition to the National Pension and retirement pensions. On the 18th, the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service announced in the "2025 South Korean Pension Savings Investment White Paper" that last year’s accumulated pension savings balance...

June 18, 2026
News,
Read more...