South Korea's Yoon says $830 billion public pension fund needs urgent reform

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Thursday the national pension fund, one of the world's largest with $830 billion of assets, needs urgent reform to make it more equitable and to ensure income security for an ageing population.

There had been a loss of confidence in the pension system across generations and there was a need for fundamental and sustainable reform to restore the trust of those who needed it in retirement, Yoon told a televised briefing.

"Now is the time to fundamentally reform the national pension system that has the confidence of neither the elderly nor the youth," he said.

Yoon said the contributions paid in must be increased to ensure the fund is sustainable and the rate of increase also differentiated between age groups to make it more equitable. 

"We will pursue reforms that will be persuasive to the youth who will be paying into the fund the longest and will be receiving pension the last."

"A pension system that leaves the elderly poor and young people suspicious must fundamentally be reformed," he said.

South Korea's public pension fund, established in 1988 and currently the world's third-largest with 1,113.5 trillion won ($833.98 billion) in assets, is expected to be depleted by 2055 as payments start to outpace contributions from 2041.

The contribution rate into the pension scheme, which is mandatory for wage earners and business owners, is 9% of income, compared to 10.6% in the United States, 18.3% in Japan and an average of 15.4% for members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The average payout is 31.2% of average pay, compared to the OECD average of 50.7%, meaning South Korea's elderly are among the poorest out of OECD economies. 

Reforming the system has been a policy goal for a series of South Korean presidents but there has been little progress because of disagreements on how to approach the issue.

Yoon also said he was pushing ahead with ambitious healthcare reforms, saying the focus is now on improving the quality of medical care in essential disciplines and regions outside of large cities. 

More than 10 trillion won will be invested over five years to improve services in those areas, he said.

Yoon's push for healthcare reform has been met by strong objections from doctors, who reject his plan to increase the number of new medical students each year to address a shortage of physicians. Thousands of young doctors walked off the job in February in protest over the reforms, disrupting hospital services.