"Pension and Welfare Reforms, Expanded Youth Job Opportunities"... Government to Unveil '2045 National Development Strategy' This Year

Republic of Korea 2045 Strategy Establishment Committee

There has been a proposal to reform the pension and welfare systems and expand youth job entry opportunities for the nation's long-term development. The government is planning to announce the '2045 National Development Strategy' containing these priorities within this year.

Prime Minister Han Seongsuk is speaking at the '2045 Strategy Establishment Committee' held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 12th. August 12, 2026. Photo by Jo Yongjun

Prime Minister Han Sung-sook presided over the second meeting of the 'Republic of Korea 2045 Strategy Establishment Committee' at the Government Seoul Office on August 12. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Han, who serves as the Chair, as well as Park Hong-geun, Minister of Planning and Budget (Vice Chair), and other government officials. Private sector participants included Lee Hanjoo, President of the Korea Economic and Social Research Institute (Vice Chair), and Kim Wonjang, Vice President of SampoTV and head of the National Communication Team, among others.

Since its launch in May, the Strategy Establishment Committee has collected input from the general public, youth, and experts to develop its vision and specify key tasks. Through surveys and expert consultations, 17 core areas were selected, including securing AI competitiveness, strengthening power supply safety, and establishing strategic technology security sovereignty. In particular, numerous priorities related to demographic change were included, such as pension, welfare, and care system reforms tailored for an aging society; enhanced utilization of human resources among the middle-aged and elderly; restructuring education, defense, and other systems to address population decline; and expanding job entry opportunities for young people.

The Korea Economic and Social Research Institute, responsible for the main presentation, diagnosed that "currently, South Korea faces a dual bottleneck of 'high input, low conversion'—having technological capabilities but failing to translate them into outcomes—and 'high capability, low legitimacy'—a lack of robust social consensus." The institute noted that the nation stands at the boundary between scenarios of 'divided growth' and 'slow decline.'

Going forward, the government will select key priorities required for fundamental innovation of the national system. Based on this, the 2045 National Development Strategy will be established and announced within this year. Prime Minister Han stated, "This will serve as a landmark and future blueprint for the path our nation will take over the next 20 years."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.