What If the NPS Hadn't Delayed Rebalancing? ... Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over Document Submission [2026 Parliamentary Audit]

Opposition calls for figures assuming rebalancing was not deferred
Ruling party: "Unnecessary to submit the documents"
NPS Chairman Kim Seongju also voices opposition

Kim Seongju, chairman of the National Pension Service, answers questions during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee on the 14th.

At the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's parliamentary audit of the National Pension Service (NPS), the ruling and opposition parties clashed over a request for documents showing the projected returns the NPS would have achieved had it not delayed rebalancing its portfolio. The People Power Party called for the documents to be submitted, while the Democratic Party of Korea countered that they were unnecessary, arguing that no investment could be made if hypothetical scenarios were continually considered.

Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, the committee's ruling-party secretary, pushed back during the NPS audit on the morning of October 14 against the opposition's request for the minutes of Fund Management Committee meetings. "I cannot help but ask whether demanding their release, even at the risk of exposing an ongoing investment strategy, is truly in the public interest," he said.

Lee In-young of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "If rebalancing was deferred because of the local elections, it would actually have been politically advantageous to rebalance before the elections and produce results. The claim that rebalancing was deferred for political reasons does not add up."

Baek Jong-heon of the People Power Party, the opposition secretary on the committee, called for the documents. "The Fund Management Committee approved the rebalancing deferral in January this year, and the NPS kept raising its target allocation to domestic stocks while delaying rebalancing," he said. "The committee voted to make the minutes of that meeting public in 2030. The National Assembly is asking to verify how decisions were made about the public's retirement funds."

Lee Dal-hee of the People Power Party criticized the decision, saying, "The blunder of deferring rebalancing gave foreign investors the chance to sell their domestic stocks at high prices and exit the market. The losses from this process fell entirely on individual investors who had trusted the government's policy to boost the stock market." She added, "Abroad, the NPS has even earned the derisive label of 'the ATM of the people of South Korea.'"

Lee Man-hee, the People Power Party chair of the Health and Welfare Committee, asked Lee Gyu-hong, the NPS chief investment officer (CIO) and executive director for fund management, to submit documents showing "the results under the assumption that rebalancing had not been deferred." Lee agreed, but Kim Seongju, chairman of the National Pension Service, said, "Mr. Lee has only recently taken office and has not yet fully familiarized himself with the work. We will discuss whether to release the documents and provide an answer."

Opposition lawmakers protested again. Committee Chair Lee also told Kim, "It is inappropriate for a witness before the National Assembly to speak that way," and directed him to "submit the documents to every member of the Health and Welfare Committee so they can compare the outcomes with and without the rebalancing deferral."

Opposition lawmakers then pushed back. Seo said, "The Fund Management Committee is not a group of novelists. Asking it to make estimates and produce hypothetical results is not an appropriate action for the National Assembly to take."

In response, Lee Dal-hee said, "We are not asking anyone to write fiction. The NPS's decision to support the domestic stock market after deliberations is different from ordinary investing." She urged the NPS to submit simulation data.

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