국민연금기금의 법적 성격과 운용원칙에 관한 연구

As the diverse opinions about investment policy of National Pension Fund of Korea have arisen, it necessitates the discussion about the characteristics of the fund. Traditionally, there are some arguments about perspectives on the characteristics of the fund. One thing is to understand it as a trust fund seeking for commercial mandate, the other thing considers it as a social investment capital focusing on social mandate. Add on the latter opinion,the theory of a Sovereign Wealth Fund(SWF) has emerged and provided new perspective on that matter. Whether to understand it as a social investment capital or a SWF, both opinions share the same objective in search for the flexible fund investment. This paper opposes these opinions, in that they overlook the important thing, which is the main objective of raising and reserving the fund is to meet the demand of the beneficiaries' requests. Also, this paper analyzes the main characteristic of the fund as a trust fund, and then insists that financial principles -- profitability and stability -- should be considered to be the most fundamental management standard for the fund.