Poverty and social security in South Korea

Datos Bibliográficos

ID16851208
AutoresMarco Pomati (0000-0002-3370-2709, Cardiff University), JOANNA MACK (The Open University)
Año2024
Volumen32
Número2
Páginas182-185
Fecha de publicación2024-06-01
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Poverty and Social Justice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1759-8273 • E-ISSN: 1759-8281
EditorialBristol University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1332/17598273y2024d000000020
OpenAlexW4396665340
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas11

The articles in this special issue highlight recurring deficiencies within South Korea's social security system, yet the perspectives and conceptualisations of poverty and inequality discussed and policy solutions explored are of relevance to many countries across the world, particularly those with developed welfare systems.South Korea's welfare system is of particular interest in this respect as it is relatively recently developed -for example, the Korean National Pension ('Kukmin Yeonkum') was only introduced in 1988 -and has been largely based on an insurance-based contributory system.This left a number of 'blind spots', in particular affecting those who had not been able to fully contribute, either because of their age, the insecure nature of their work or other family and caring responsibilities.More recently, especially since the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, a number of social assistance schemes aimed at protecting those for whom social insurance has failed to provide adequate minimum incomes have been introduced.But even so, severe gaps in provision have gone unaddressed.The first article, by Taiwon Ha (Ha, 2024), addresses the pressing issue of old-age poverty.Mitigating old-age poverty in a rapidly ageing population while maintaining fiscal sustainability is a problem facing many developed countries.It is a particular problem is South Korea.Korea has the highest OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) poverty rate for the over-65s, with around 40 per cent below the OECD poverty line (based on 50 per cent of median income).Ha's analysis indicates the positive impact of revisions to Korea's public pension system on elder financial stability, yet a substantial segment of older adults, particularly those over 75, remain inadequately supported.This is primarily because the over-75s were unable to build up enough entitlements for the new contribution-based pension system while also lacking adequate coverage from tax-financed social assistance (the Basic Pension) schemes and other transfers.Ha finds that since 2003 the situation has improved for those aged 65-74, whereas it has worsened for those aged 75 and above.Poverty rates for those aged 75 or over and living alone were as high 83 per cent in 2020 (Ha, 2024: 13).This is in line with recent research highlighting the importance of intergenerational co-residence and transfers in protecting Korean older adults from relying solely on low levels of public pension benefits (Ku and Kim, 2020).Ha inspects both poverty rate and poverty depth (the poverty gap) and finds that public pension payments and public transfers have helped decrease the average depth of poverty, yet they could not sufficiently reduce the poverty rate for those aged

Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Philosophy · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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