57% of citizens support civil servant pension reform

Six out of 10 Koreans think that the current civil servant pension needs to change into a form in which government employees pay more premiums and get paid less payment, a survey found.

Gallup Korea released the result of its public survey of 1,005 respondents on Friday, which was conducted from Tuesday to Thursday. On the civil servant pension reform plan, with more monthly premiums and less monthly payment, 57 percent of the respondents support the measure, while 25 percent expressed "objection" and 18 percent "declined to answer."

The number of people who support the revised civil servant pension system was the largest in the age bracket of people in their 50s at 68 percent, followed by those in their 60s or older (63 percent), 40s (60 percent), and 30s (53 percent). Those who oppose the measure (42 percent) outnumbered those who support it (37 percent) only among people in their 20s.

The survey also revealed that 68 percent of people who support the ruling Saenuri Party and 49 percent of those who support the New Politics Alliance for Democracy are in support of the new measure, respectively. As for the timing for parliamentary clearance of the civil servant pension reform bill, which is under discussion at the National Assembly, as many as 60 percent of the respondents said, “The measure should pass the National Assembly as soon as possible." Only 29 percent of the survey respondents said, "It is not necessary."

On the view that if the civil servant pension payment is cut, compensation for civil servants should improve, 56 percent of the respondents supported it. Those who said they opposed the measure were 29 percent, while those who answered "I don’t know" and "decline to answer" was 15 percent. The survey results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence.

sungho@donga.com