It was a New Year’s bounty that was supposed to slip by without much notice, but a retirement fund set aside for lawmakers in the 2013 government budget has incited public anger.

The National Assembly passed this year’s 342 trillion won ($321 billion) government budget on Jan. 1 in a 202-40 vote with wide support from both the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Democratic United Party.

Included in the budget was 12.8 billion won ($12 million) to pay a monthly pension of 1.2 million won ($1,100 ) to former lawmakers over the age of 65.

“It is like throwing cold water at the people who expected change after the elections,” said Kang Ji-won, who heads the Korea Manifesto Center, a political watchdog group, in a radio appearance. “It is a very deplorable act.”

An online petition to prohibit the pension was created on Daum, one of nation’s most heavily visited Internet portals, and gathered more than 15,000 signatures in two days. Other portals, such as Naver, and newspaper websites were abuzz with comments, often laced with expletives, accusing the lawmakers of lying and thievery.

Last year, candidates running for the 300-member legislature on both sides of the Assembly promised to do away with special privileges bestowed on them by law, such as parliamentary immunity, which shields lawmakers from being arrested or held in detention without the approval of the legislature.

Conservative and liberal candidates also championed dropping the monthly pension for senior former lawmakers in an effort to showcase their willingness to serve the general public.

“The people’s demand for political reforms is turning into criticism after the presidential elections,” a group of 14 first-term DUP lawmakers told reporters at the National Assembly last Friday, calling for the end of the pension promised to their elders. “Political reforms must begin by dropping the parliamentary privileges of lawmakers.”

Meanwhile, the list of lawmakers who opposed the retirement fund was also shared on Internet portals. Included in the list were seven members from the Justice 21 Party, a minor progressive party that has made opposition to the monthly pension its official party position.

By Samuel Songhoon Lee (songhoon@heraldcorp.com)