**Special Committee Elevated and ‘Meeting with the KCTU’**
Ruling Party: “‘Step-by-step Extension’ Discussion, Legislation by Year-end”
Opposition: “Negative Impact on Youth Employment is Obvious”
Business Sector Protests ‘Reemployment After Retirement’ as an Alternative
The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to extend the current retirement age from 60 to 65. The party is focusing on a ‘gradual’ extension plan to minimize side effects and aims to complete legislation by the end of the year. However, the discussions are expected to be difficult as they could escalate into labor-management and generational conflicts due to possible reduced corporate investment and decreased youth employment.
Jeong Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party, held a policy meeting with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) at the National Assembly on the 6th to discuss labor issues, including the extension of the retirement age. The Democratic Party has set a goal to achieve results within the year regarding the gradual extension of the retirement age to 65 by 2033, a campaign pledge of President Lee Jae-myung. On the 3rd, Kim Byung-gi, the floor leader who attended the first meeting of the ‘Special Committee for Extension of Retirement Age for Recovery and Growth,’ which was elevated from a task force, emphasized that “extending the retirement age is a positive plan to fill income gaps for seniors, stabilize pension finances, and utilize skilled workers.” The leadership has taken a speedy approach after the task force’s goal of ‘legislation by November’ was not met.
The two major labor unions are also increasing pressure. At a joint press conference on the 5th, the KCTU and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) urged the National Assembly to “immediately draft and pass a bill on the extension of the retirement age as it is a national demand and a task of the times.” They stressed the need to resolve the five-year income gap between the current retirement age of 60 and the revised pension eligibility age of 65, set to change in 2033. However, a key official from the Democratic Party’s policy committee noted that “while we aim for year-end processing, implementing the extension all at once has too great an impact, so a gradual extension plan will be discussed.”
Concerns that extending the retirement age could reduce corporate investments and exacerbate youth unemployment are significant hurdles. Kim Do-eup, the policy committee chair of the People Power Party, stated during a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly, “In line with changes in the societal context such as life expectancy extension, the People Power Party also supports extending the retirement age.” However, he emphasized the need to carefully design policies, including social security systems and youth job guarantees, because “blindly extending the retirement age could obviously impact new young entrants to the job market.”
The business sector is also protesting. The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) expressed the need for cautious consideration of the retirement age extension law in its proposals to the National Assembly for the second half of 2025. The KEF suggested formulating a ‘Special Act on Reemployment After Retirement’ instead, to guarantee employment rights of retirees and provide companies with the option and incentive for reemployment, including government support. A report from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) last year estimated that extending the retirement age would cost 30.2 trillion won to employ elderly workers aged 60-64 for five years, a sum that could employ approximately 900,000 young people aged 25-29.
Reported by Kim Jin and Joo Sohyeon