The key point emphasized by the two major unions through this press conference is ‘employment stability without income gap.’ The fact that 88.3% of the public was in favor of extending the retirement age in a perception survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions proves that extending the retirement age is no longer a selfish demand of a specific generation, but is a task that has gained consensus across society. Currently, the five-year gap between the retirement age of 60 and the pension age of 65 is pushing retirees to an income cliff, which is leading to a miserable report card with the highest poverty rate among seniors in the OECD. The labor community argues that the government and the ruling party must abandon their lukewarm attitude of relying on public opinion and make a decision to substantially guarantee workers' retirement through immediate law revision.

However, there is tension between labor, politics, and management over the methodology for extending the retirement age. The labor community is expressing strong resistance to the 'parallel re-employment' and 'wage system reform' plans that are known to be under review by the Democratic Party's Special Committee on Retirement Age Extension. The two major unions criticize this method as a 'downward standardization of working conditions' under the guise of extending the retirement age and as nothing more than granting the long-awaited project of the management community. In particular, there is great concern that disadvantageous changes to employment rules without the union's consent could become toxic provisions that undermine workers' rights. The labor community is wary of the extension of the retirement age becoming a means of reducing costs for companies rather than improving the lives of workers, and considers guaranteeing employment through legal obligation as its top priority.

The labor community also directly refuted the controversy raised by some about ‘encroaching on youth jobs.’ Yang Kyung-soo, chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, pointed out that the employment structure is already changing regardless of the extension of the retirement age due to automation in manufacturing and large corporations, and dismissed pointing out the extension of the retirement age as the cause of youth unemployment as a logic that obscures the essence. Rather, the position is that extending the retirement age is a measure to ensure retirement income, and creating quality jobs for young people is a task that must be solved through a separate policy approach. In other words, the analysis is that rather than encouraging job conflicts between generations, a comprehensive labor market reform tailored to changes in industrial structure should take precedence.

This National Assembly press conference goes beyond simply wishing for the passage of the bill, and contains the will to judge the irresponsible actions of the government and the ruling party. As discussions on extending the retirement age, which the government had promised as a national task, have been at a standstill for more than six months, the anxiety of workers approaching retirement age is reaching its peak. Kim Dong-myeong, Chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, demanded that public opinion-mongering, which causes further social chaos, be stopped and a specific legislative proposal that the public can understand be presented. This is like an ultimatum from the labor community that tangible results must be achieved during this year's regular National Assembly session, and now the ball is back in the hands of the government and politicians.