National Pension Plan Drives Man to Suicide

A man in his thirties committed suicide after taking it hard that the National Pension Corporation had withdrawn all his income in the name of “arrears” collection. He had been suffering from debt and not able to pay his share of the national pension plan.

However, the corporation says that they “were collecting unpaid pension funds according to the proper laws and regulations” in regard to the incident. This will likely give rise to the debate whether there should be a revision of policies concerning the national pension plan once again.

Cho, 38, was a typical father who ran a household of two sons and one daughter along with his 35-year-old wife while running a small Japanese restaurant in Dangjin, Chungnam.

However, his debts increased to hundreds of million won due to the grave economic depression, and a credit card payment collection of 1.3 million won was the sole source of income for him that was scheduled to be deposited in his account in early June.

However, he received an income adjustment notice from the corporation because the amount he owed the national pension plan was increased to 3 million won without his knowledge. Cho visited the local office of the corporation and appealed his case, which resulted in a verbal agreement that he would pay 500,000 won then, and pay the rest later. Nevertheless, his credit card deposit was confiscated as money in arrears.

Cho fell into despair and drank herbicide near his house around 11 p.m. on June 9 and fell into comma until he passed away around 12:40 a.m. on June 11.

The incident was made known to the public after Cho’s sister-in-law, Yang, 32, wrote an article on an online bulletin board for complaints at Chong Wa Dae’s website titled: “National Pension Plan Which Drove a Man to Suicide.” As the news of the incident gained speed through the internet, numerous replies were being posted saying, “The national pension plan is killing all the people eventually.”

Regarding the issue, the corporation explained that we “never went against established principles and procedures, even though we regret the incident.”

According to the national tax collection law, forceful collection measures will be taken if payment is delayed for more than two years after procedures such as notices and reminders. An official at the corporation’s PR department explained, “The confiscation of 1.3 million won from Mr. Cho’s account happened because he did not keep to his promise of paying 500,000 won.”

“Eighty percent of the 180,000 people with overdue national pension plan payments are low-income households,” said President Kim Son-taek, 44, of the civic group, Korean Federation of Taxpayers. “It is of a pressing need to supplement the policy with an apparent standard to save the low-income households.”

Yang-Hwan Jung ray@donga.com