June 2023
19Jun

Korea launches new team on population policy amid low birthrate

Korea's presidential committee dedicated to addressing the aging society launched a policy planning team Monday, with the goal of strengthening inter-ministry ties on population policies amid the alarmingly low birthrate.The move came as Korea's total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, hit a record low of 0.78 in 2022, much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep Korea's population stable at 51 million.The Presidential Committee on Aging Society and...

June 19, 2023
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14Jun

South Korea. Rapid population aging to accelerate income inequity

Income inequality in Korea is likely to accelerate due to a rapidly aging population, according to a report released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Wednesday. The report revealed that income inequality among households has worsened by 30 percent over the past 25 years, largely as a result of the aging population. "The aging population is expected to have a significant negative impact on the Korean economy, not only by lowering labor productivity and increasing the burden of care, but...

June 14, 2023
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05Jun

Elderly Outnumber 20-Somethings in Korea’s Workforce

For the first time ever senior citizens outnumber 20-somethings in Korea's workforce after decades of low birthrates and an aging society.According to Statistics Korea, 3.38 million people over 60 were employed in the fourth quarter of last year, up 284,000 from the same period of 2021. But only 3.22 million Koreans in their 20s were employed, down by 36,000 over the same period.It was the first time in seven quarters that the number of young workers declined.That brought the...

June 5, 2023
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May 2023
31May

South Korea’s NPS fund sticks to plan to boost overseas, alternative investments

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), manager of the world's third-largest public pension fund, will continue to gradually increase its target investment in overseas and alternative assets, the welfare ministry said. The NPS will invest 55% of its total assets in stocks, 30% in bonds and 15% in alternative assets by 2028, the ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday. Its five-year investment target ratios, decided by the representative panel that governs the fund's investment policies, remained the same as...

May 31, 2023
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April 2023
18Apr

One in five Korean workers are over 60: Statistics

One out of five Korean workers are over 60 years old, in an aging society with plunging birth rates. The number of elderly still working and the on-year increase in the number of elderly working both reached all-time highs last year. The number of people over 60 who were working last year stood at 5.86 million, hitting the highest figure since data compilation began in 1963, according to Statistics Korea and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on Monday. The number was...

April 18, 2023
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13Apr

Bank of Korea, pension service seal $35 billion FX swap deal to help ease pressure on won

South Korea's central bank on Thursday agreed a deal with the National Pension Service that allows the latter to secure up to $35 billion in funds outside the standard foreign exchange market, a move offering support to the beleaguered Korean won. The move comes in the wake of the won weakening more than 8 per cent versus the dollar in just two months, hit by a ballooning trade deficit and a fresh wave of risk aversion in global markets. The won...

April 13, 2023
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March 2023
24Mar

S. Korea’s pension fund posts 8.2% investment loss for 2022

South Korea's National Pension Fund reported a -8.2% investment return for 2022 and a 6.1% drop in assets to 890.5 trillion won ($706.4 billion). Domestic equity in the portfolio accounted for the biggest loss at -22.8%, followed by overseas equity at -12.3%, according to a statement by the Jeonju-based pension fund on March 2. "Domestic and overseas equity portfolios experienced a sharp drop in value due to ongoing market volatility at home and abroad triggered by the prolonged war in Ukraine...

March 24, 2023
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08Mar

South Korea pension fund to consider climate change in management work

South Korea's national pension fund will consider climate change as part of its stewardship activities going forward, the welfare ministry said on Tuesday. A panel that oversees the National Pension Service's (NPS) fund management policies decided to add climate change, along with industrial accidents, to its list of focus areas for responsible investment activities, the ministry said in a statement. Until now, the world's third-largest public pension fund engaged with companies focusing primarily on matters related to corporate governance, such as...

March 8, 2023
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06Mar

S.Korea pension fund ready to revive FX swap with cenbank

South Korea's National Pension Service (NPS), manager of the world's third-largest public pension fund, will collaborate with foreign exchange authorities when needed to help stabilise the market, its chairman told Reuters. Chairman Kim Tae-hyun also said during an interview on Friday with Reuters that re-establishing a currency swap arrangement with South Korea's central bank which expired at the end of last year could be part of such collaboration. NPS has nearly $700 billion under its management and needs to buy dollars...

March 6, 2023
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February 2023
14Feb

South Korea. Busan turns to attracting crypto to tackle its ageing population

A catastrophic period for cryptocurrency is not stopping South Korea’s second-largest city from betting that digital money will solve a major problem: having one of the greyest populations in one of the world’s fastest-ageing nations. Busan, a port on the south-eastern coast of the Korean peninsula, is seeking to become a global cryptocurrency hub because its planners believe that embracing virtual tokens will bring more young people to its streets. It is setting up a publicly run exchange for digital...

February 14, 2023
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