▲ Prime Minister Kim Min-seok (R) speaks during a social security committee meeting at the government complex in Seoul on May 12, 2026. (Yonhap)

PM-social security

PM vows to expand social security expenditures to match advanced nations by 2040

SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Tuesday the government will expand social security expenditures to the levels of advanced nations by 2040 in order to deal actively with demographic and other social changes in South Korea.

Kim said during a meeting of the social security committee that South Korea has steadily expanded social welfare expenditures, but they are still short of the average of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, a grouping of well-off nations.

"The government is making efforts to minimize difficulties in people's livelihoods as the prolonged Middle East war makes people's lives harder," Kim said in his opening remarks. "Under a national crisis like this, it is a must-do thing to newly establish a sustainable social security system and mid- and long-term policy directions."

Kim also said the government will go beyond selective welfare to guarantee welfare for all while seeking proactive welfare in which the government directly reaches out to those in need, rather than an application-based welfare system.

"Through the establishment of a stable welfare society, we will lay the foundation for national economic development and establish a virtuous cycle where the fruits of development are returned again for welfare," he said.

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