"Lump Sum Upon Retirement," Yet Monthly Deductions Made... Busan City Explains Over "1 Billion Won Evaporating"

It has been confirmed that hundreds of retired public officials belonging to Busan City have not been able to get back their retirement consolation money, which had been accumulated from their monthly salaries, for several years.

It is understood that those affected by the non-payment exceed 300 people, and the overdue consolation money amounts to more than 1 billion won.

The Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission has also received related complaints and launched an investigation.

Busan City operates a retirement consolation money system targeting public officials of Grade 5 or higher.

Under this system, those who agree to join have 40,000 won automatically deducted from their monthly salaries, and upon retirement, they receive the accumulated amount all at once as consolation money.

Joining was voluntary rather than mandatory, but some retired public officials claim that the atmosphere at the time made it practically difficult to refuse enrollment.

The problem is that the fund has run dry.

Until 2017, Busan City paid out higher consolation amounts based on years of service regardless of the amount paid individually. Recently, this was compounded by the massive retirement wave of the baby boomer generation, which reportedly led to a sharp increase in the amounts that needed to be paid out.

Busan City changed the system in 2017 to pay out only the exact amount contributed by individuals, but the fund shortage problem was not resolved, eventually resulting in successive delays in paying out the retirement consolation money.

Currently, payments are being made belatedly and sequentially to those who retired in the first half of 2021, and those who retired after that reportedly face a situation where it is difficult to predict when they will receive their consolation money.

However, there is no clear solution to normalize the fund.

To resume payments, the number of new subscribers needs to increase, but securing new subscribers has become difficult as the depletion of the fund and the payment delays have become known. Furthermore, it is realistically difficult to demand the return of the difference from retirees who received more consolation money than their past contributions.

Busan City maintains its stance that the retirement consolation money system is a farewell-money-style scheme voluntarily operated by public officials, and that the city merely supported administrative convenience rather than being the official management entity.

It is reported that the system has been operated for at least 28 years without a clear implementation entity. Controversy surrounding accountability is growing given that the fund, automatically deducted monthly from public officials' salaries, has been operated for a long period without a clear management body.

Busan City stated that it plans to hold a general meeting of subscribers in the second half of this year to discuss whether to maintain or abolish the system.

(Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.