Saenuri leaderhip’s hasty praise for public servant pension reform

On the ruling and opposition parties’ agreement on the reform bill of civil servants’ pensions, which took place at the National Assembly over the weekend, Saenuri Chairman Kim Moo-sung said, “The public pension reform is the biggest achievement of the 19th Assembly. By keeping this momentum, we need to revive economy and succeed the four major reforms as soon as possible.” This is an embarrassing self-praise considering that the agreed bill is not good enough to address shortfalls in the public pension funds.

The Saenuri leadership made an excuse that they had no choice but to settle down with the agreed bill because of the National Assembly Advancement Act. New Politics Alliance for Democracy, which brandished a strong weapon of the act, deserves criticism for its original sin of refusing the reform to please palate of the government employees’ labor union. However, the attitude of Saenuri as the ruling party responsible for state affairs management, which agreed on a compromise arranged behind closed doors and blamed the National Assembly Advancement Act, is also the ultimate in irresponsibility.

Last September, Kim boasted that the party would push ahead with the public pension reform, even it costs government employees to turn their backs on the ruling party. In this March, the ruling party leader also pledged, “The government will reform the civil servant pension to reduce the deficit and make a balance with the national pension, even though the party loses votes in elections.” Kim agreed on the reform bill, which has not gone far enough to meet the original purpose, surrendering to the government employees’ labor union and the opposition party. Kim’s move shows once again the Saenuri Party’s traditional pursuit of wellbeing by avoiding difficult challenges with a stance that "anything fair is fair."

It is a chronic malady of the ruling Saenuri Party that plays along with the opposition party on bills, which must not be passed in the Assembly to protect votes from a specific group or to secure their interests. A case in point is Saenuri’s agreement on the National Assembly Advancement Act, which abandons the majority rule, making excuses to avoid scuffles in the Assembly before the 2012 presidential election. Another case is the so-called Kim Young-ran law (Anti-Corruption and Conflicts of Interest Act), which passed the National Assembly this March. The both parties included unconstitutional clause in the bill but excluded lawmakers’ involvement in solicitation from the target list for punishment. Again, the party agreed to omit a clause to prevent conflict of interests for public officials, which is directly related to interests of lawmakers, making the bill incomplete. The ruling party also played a part in passing a bill that recognizes taxi as a public transportation medium, which is hard to find in any other countries, in January 2013. Saenuri also joined hands with the opposition party to impose regulations on giant superstores, which infringes on interests of majority of consumers.

“If politicians pursue popularity, the nation has no future,” said Kim at the party convention on July 14, 2014. Right after winning the by-election on Wednesday, the ruling party leader renewed his commitment to push ahead with the public pension reform, saying, “Half-baked reform will cause uproar from the public.” If President Park Geun-hye and Saenuri leader Kim can see anger from the public, they must exercise leadership to correct the agreed bill to match its name of “reform bill” prior to the Assembly’s plenary session scheduled on this Wednesday.