Seongju Kim, National Pension Chairman: "First Youth Pension Premium Support to Address Retirement Inequality"

Seongju Kim, Chairman of the National Pension Service, stated, “So far, the proportion of young people in the Gangnam’s three wards who voluntarily enroll in the National Pension Service has been twice as high as the nationwide average,” adding, “With the government now directly supporting the first insurance premium, the unfairness where the informational advantage of parents leads to disparities in retirement security for their children will disappear.”

Seongju Kim, Chairman of the National Pension Service, is delivering a congratulatory speech at the "4th Asia Business Daily Alternative Investment Forum" held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul on September 29, 2026. Photo by Jinhyung Kang

Chairman Kim recently wrote on his Facebook page, “On the very first day of preregistration for the ‘First-Ever Youth Pension Premium Support Program,’ 192 people born in 2009 applied. This kind of response is rare for something other than a new smartphone launch.”

The National Pension Service system is structured so that the longer you are enrolled, the greater the pension amount you will receive in the future. So far, parents who were well informed and financially capable would have their children apply for voluntary enrollment as soon as they turned 18, even paying the premiums on their behalf, securing a longer enrollment period. This has resulted in voluntary enrollment rates among young people in Gangnam’s three districts being twice as high as the national average.

To address this, the government will launch the ‘First-Ever Youth Pension Premium Support Program’ on January 1 next year. Approximately 450,000 young people born in 2009 are eligible. For youth whose enrollment may be delayed due to education or military service, the government will provide the full amount of the first month’s premium (41,000 won, based on the minimum standard monthly income) to encourage early enrollment.

Applications can be submitted through the National Pension Service website, the mobile app ‘National Pension Near Me’, by phone, or by visiting any branch nationwide. Both the young applicants themselves and their parents may apply; if the family relationship can be verified in the agency’s information system, the process can be completed easily without additional documentation.

Chairman Kim emphasized, “Applicants or their parents can easily apply online,” and requested, “I hope that parents will actively participate and apply so that the informational gap among parents can be reduced and more young people can benefit from this program.”

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