Abstract

The South Korean Basic Pension Scheme (BPS), which provides non-contributory pensions to retired citizens, was implemented in 2014 to ensure basic income security for older adults who are below the poverty line. Since that time, the structural weakness and financial instability of the scheme with regard to its long-term development have been widely discussed. With reference to intergenerational equity, this study conducts an analytic and detailed examination using Barusch’s social justice framework to explore whether the BPS was established through fair and proper processes and can benefit all generations equally. This framework can highlight the degree to which the BPS is responsible for an inequitable distribution of power, resources, and individual access and how it resists inequity and unfairness. The following four elements were evaluated: fairness in the policy development process, allocation rules, effects on vulnerable populations, and impact on social justice. The findings indicated that the process of developing BPS as a policy did not proceed through an established rule, and the BPS only reaches its short-term effects for current older adults by ignoring the potential long-term consequences. Available funds for the BPS will be in danger of being exhausted, and this will lead to either reducing payment amounts or increasing contribution rates. Our findings also indicate that funding for the resources to maintain BPS is not shared between current and future generations. The government must prepare and provide the public with a long-term plan for BPS by designing a more equitable funding and benefits scheme.