Labor ministry announces Blue Seed IRP employee enrollment campaign

The labor ministry said Tuesday that Geunro Bokji Gongdan has begun an employee enrollment campaign for Blue Seed IRP, seeking to have its staff gain firsthand experience before promoting the scheme more broadly.

The agency said the drive is intended to help the new program take root early and raise public awareness, with employees encouraged to enroll voluntarily. At its headquarters Tuesday, Park Jong-gil and agency employees took part in the Blue Seed IRP One Account Per Person Campaign, which outlined the plan's purpose and enrollment process.

Blue Seed IRP was introduced July 1 as South Korea's first public fund-based individual retirement pension and is open to anyone earning income, including employees, self-employed people and labor-service providers. Since its launch, 853 people have enrolled, including 116 agency employees.

The agency cited the reliability of a public program, professional asset management by a dedicated outsourced chief investment officer and continued long-term management after pension payments begin as advantages, along with fewer complex financial-product choices. "We will continue to broaden the enrollment base so Blue Seed IRP becomes a representative public fund-based retirement pension that people can trust and choose, and a solid retirement-income safety net for working people," Park said.

Through September, the agency plans explanatory sessions for regional headquarters, its hospitals and other affiliated institutions. It will expand public outreach through media interviews, online content, a fourth-anniversary event for Blue Seed, local-government electronic displays and YouTube.