The National Pension isn't set by what you've paid — the start date decided it

This January, the National Pension line on the pay slip rose by ₩7,500 for someone earning ₩3M a month. Small enough to miss, but this ₩7,500 has a sequel. It rises again next year, and the year after. It rises every year for eight years through 2033, and when it is done the same salary loses ₩60,000 more a month, ₩720,000 a year. This is not a forecast. The year-by-year numbers are already written in the law: passed by the National Assembly, promulgated, and in force. All that remains is the calendar.

The National Pension contribution rate is rising from 9% to 13%. It is an amendment to the National Pension Act promulgated in April 2025 and in force since January 1, 2026. This year is 9.5%, rising 0.5%p a year to 13% in 2033. Every year's rate is listed in the addenda, so the Assembly never has to decide it again. Four steps: ① how much does it rise, ② how much actually leaves my pay, ③ there is a ceiling, ④ is it only the paying side that rose.

Step one: the table. Through 2025 it was 9%, a number that had not moved for a very long time. 2026: 9.5%. 2027: 10%. 2028: 10.5%. 2029: 11%. 2030: 11.5%. 2031: 12%. 2032: 12.5%. 2033: 13%. And 13% is written not in the addenda but in the main text (Art. 88), which means it stays at 13% after 2033 with no further legislation. One common misunderstanding to clear up: this is not going to rise. It has risen. Eight years of increases were fixed in a single amendment, and we are passing through the first box of that table. Every January 1 the next box applies automatically.

Step two is where the biggest misunderstanding lives. Employees do not pay the whole 9.5%. The law splits it into the employee contribution and the employer contribution: 4.75% from the worker, 4.75% from the company (Art. 88(3)). On ₩3M a month, ₩142,500 leaves your pay and the company pays the same amount. Last year it was ₩135,000, so the rise is ₩7,500, the number from the opening. In 2033 each side pays 6.5% and your share becomes ₩195,000: ₩52,500 more than now, ₩60,000 more than in the 9% days.

Regional members are different. Self-employed and freelance members with no employer pay the full amount themselves. On the same ₩3M monthly income that is ₩285,000 this year and ₩390,000 in 2033. It looks like double what an employee pays, but it is really the employee share and the employer share carried by one person. Hear the news say 9.5% and assume it all comes out of your pay, and an employee overestimates by double while a regional member underestimates by half.

Step three: the ceiling. The rate is applied not to your salary as such but to the 'standard monthly income', so contributions have a cap. Currently the floor is ₩410,000 and the ceiling ₩6.59M. Earn ₩10M a month and only ₩6.59M is counted; earn less than ₩410,000 and ₩410,000 is used. So this year's maximum employee share is ₩313,025, and anyone earning more stops there. The floor and ceiling are adjusted every July; the current figures run from July 2026 to June 2027. Someone at the ceiling sees no change when their salary rises, only in years when the rate rises. Someone below the ceiling sees both a raise and a rate increase push the contribution up.

Step four: did only the paying side rise? No. The benefit formula rose with it. The constant in the article that computes the pension amount (Art. 51(1)) rose to 1.29, which corresponds to a 43% income replacement rate. It is designed so that 40 years of contributions yield a pension of 43% of lifetime average income. So the accurate name for this amendment is 'pay more, receive more'. The paying side is the eight steps; the receiving side is this constant. Which side favors you depends on remaining contribution years, income level and lifespan, and cannot be settled in one line. But what you pay shows up in next month's pay slip while what you receive shows up decades later, so the increase makes the news and its counterpart does not. They are one amendment.

Now to your pay slip. The check takes 30 seconds. ① Divide the National Pension amount by your salary: it should come out near 4.75%. If it is 9.5%, the employer share is coming out of your pay and needs checking. ② If your salary exceeds ₩6.59M but the contribution exceeds ₩313,025, that also needs checking, because nothing above the ceiling may be deducted. ③ Remember next January's slip: that is the month the rate goes to 10%, another ₩7,500 on ₩3M. The employer share never appears on the slip; the company pays the fund directly. Regional members should check that the bill equals 9.5% of income. If your income declaration is out of date, the contribution is based on the old income.

Two things to do now. ① Divide this month's National Pension amount by your salary and confirm it is 4.75%. ② Multiply your salary by each year's rate and build your own table through 2033. Today covered only the skeleton of contributions: the actual pension is a separate calculation involving contribution years and the average income of all members, and relief programs such as Durunuri exist separately. For a decision that shapes your retirement, use the National Pension Service's projected-benefit lookup together with professional advice. ₩7,500 is small, but the top of the eight steps is ₩60,000 a month.