Government "Discussion of raising the age of the elderly"...Pension and Employment Reform Speeds Up

[Anchor]
The government has decided to start collecting social opinions to raise the legal elderly standard, which is currently 65.

As the age of the elderly is linked to not only welfare systems such as pensions but also employment systems such as retirement age, considerable pain is expected in the discussion process.

This is reporter Lee Moon-seok.

[Reporter]
Government begins discussion on age cap for senior citizens

Currently, the legal age for senior citizens is 65.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced its work plan this year, noting that social discussions on the age limit are needed as the perception of the elderly has changed.

[Lee Ki-il / First Vice Minister of Health and Welfare: The social perception of the starting age of the elderly is changing a lot due to the entry of the baby boomers and the emergence of physically healthy and socially active "active seniors."]

Last year, the Korean Senior Citizens' Association first proposed raising the age of the elderly.

[Lee Jung-geun / President of the Korean Senior Citizens' Association (October last year): Suggest to the government that the number of senior citizens should be raised to 75 under the name of the Korean Senior Citizens' Association so that they can properly manage the number of senior citizens.]

Raising the standard age for the elderly is deeply related to various employment and welfare systems such as retirement age and pension start age.

Concerns and opposition from pension subscribers and companies are bound to follow.

[Lee Chae-hyun / Ngam-dong, Seoul (last month): It's understandable but the government's position to pay the national pension a little late....]

Therefore, the government decided to complete the pension reform by the first half of this year in line with the move to raise the age limit for the elderly and discuss the reorganization of the salary system.

At the same time, he announced that he would actively pursue related policies, such as easing the criteria for the payment of incentives for "continued employment" for the elderly.

The elderly population in Korea, which has entered a super-aged society, is 10 million, one-fifth of the total population, but the ratio is expected to increase to 40% by 2050.

I'm YTN's Lee Munseok.

Reporter for filming
: Ko Min-cheol
Video editing: Lee Eun-kyung