• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.58 no.3
• /
• pp.295-312
• /
• 2006

The use of the national pension funds to welfare has been criticized due to its low profitability, with concern about financial instability and the lack of funds. Despite the small amount of the funds employed to the welfare, therefore, it has been decreasing so far. It is resulted from the fact that the use of funds to the welfare sector failed to provide its valid reasons, and take the policy direction firmly. There are three main logical reasons for the welfare investment of national pension funds: Firstly, no state is capable to take the full responsibility for the entire social welfare, and therefore, the funds can be used for social welfare. Secondly, the funded system, contrasted with the case of pay-as-you-go system, has inevitably caused discriminations to the present elderly through excluding them institutionally from pension participation. At last, so as to its selective system, the minimum contribution period of 10 years brings about the equity problem between the people who can afford it and the people who hardly can. Therefore, investing a proportion of funds to the welfare is entirely reasonable in that it can alleviate the discriminations to the present elderly generation and the marginal participants, rather than to meet their social welfare needs. With regard to the policy decision, the profitability of the investment, and the choice of the welfare work, on the other hand, the policy direction should be given a sufficient consideration of a various policy factors such as the necessity of social consensus, independence of the welfare work in relations with other national welfare work, policy identity to judge whether the work is worth long-run or short-run, and the reliance of direct-operated work and indirect-operated work. As a result of all these efforts above mentioned, an investment to the welfare of the national pension funds could be vitalized, and gain public confidence.