The Korean government has shifted its social security policy direction from selective protection focused on vulnerable groups to "welfare for all" covering the entire population. The Ministry of Health and Welfare reported the "Third Basic Plan for Social Security Revised Plan (2026-2030)" containing this content at a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House on the 26th. The previous Yoon Suk-yeol administration had announced the Third Basic Plan (2024-2028), which emphasized "thicker welfare starting with the vulnerable" and "coexistence with the next generation." However, the government explained that it has revised and supplemented the existing plan to reflect the new administration's welfare philosophy and extended it through 2030. This is the first time the top-level social security policy roadmap, established every five years, has been changed midway.
The government's revised plan ensures that all citizens can enjoy basic services such as income and housing as universal rights throughout their entire life course. To this end, it includes easing the selection criteria for basic livelihood security, abolishing dependent support fees for medical benefits, and gradually expanding the eligibility age for child allowances. The introduction of basic income is also being pursued to respond to the artificial intelligence (AI) transformation.
While the policy aim of "a society where everyone prospers together" is understandable, the problem lies in securing the massive funding required. Mandatory expenditures such as basic pensions and rigid expenditures including personnel costs and defense spending account for 80% of Korea's total budget. If limited national resources are excessively invested in universal welfare, it is difficult to rule out the possibility that vulnerable groups, the main beneficiaries of selective welfare, may inadvertently suffer harm. Moreover, according to government estimates, even if the current system is maintained, Korea's social security spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) will rise from 16.2% this year to 20.5%, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average, by 2040, and reach 27% by 2065. In this situation, recklessly expanding the welfare budget will ultimately come back as debt that future generations must bear.
Welfare spending, once increased, is difficult to reduce. The government should take as a cautionary lesson some European countries such as France, which are experiencing political turmoil while trying to cure accumulated "welfare disease." It is desirable to establish a productive welfare system that actively invests financial resources in areas such as re-employment, while concentrating cash-based support on vulnerable groups. In addition, the welfare budget should be expanded by restructuring mandatory expenditures, such as raising the eligibility age for basic pensions to 70, and boldly cutting unnecessary discretionary spending. Only when universal welfare and selective welfare are precisely combined can a sustainable welfare system be established.
