Kim Jaewon: "Actively Cooperate with Supplementary Budget... Avoid Pork-Barrel and Government Promotion Budget Insertions"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Amid discussions on the supplementary budget (추경) in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Kim Jae-won, the Policy Committee Chairman of the United Future Party, warned that the supplementary budget should not include populist spending or government publicity expenses.

On the 25th, Kim appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" and said, "There are cases where populist budgets sneak in during this opportunity, or budgets that were cut during the previous budget process despite being unnecessary are massively reinserted."

He added, "There are some very sly ministries that secretly insert government publicity budgets or budgets that were cut last year during the budget review process because they were deemed unnecessary. Such cases should be boldly cut."

The opposition party also plans to actively cooperate in forming the COVID supplementary budget. Kim said, "Our party shares the same view that even if we have to form a supplementary budget, we must ensure that quarantine work proceeds smoothly and prevent the economy from falling into an irreversible state in the long term. We are fully willing to cooperate in forming a preventive and proactive supplementary budget."

However, he expressed regret, saying, "The ruling party already rushed through the approval of this year's fiscal budget last year, forming a record-breaking so-called super budget of 512 trillion won. Since much of the necessary funds are included in that budget, we should first manage this issue through early budget execution and use the reserve fund of about 3 trillion won to resolve this problem quickly."

He also expressed concern that forming a supplementary budget ultimately becomes debt for future generations. Kim stated, "During last year's budget process, the issuance of 60 trillion won in government bonds was already planned, which means borrowing debt in advance from future generations. If we form a supplementary budget on top of that, we will have to borrow even more. Considering this, we should not decide on a total amount to spend in advance but rather calculate all the necessary expenses right now and form the budget accordingly."

He emphasized the need to increase direct quarantine costs. "The government recruited about 100 public health doctors and deployed them all to the Daegu area, but they were told, 'Find your own accommodation,' making working conditions extremely difficult. In such cases, quarantine budgets should include providing accommodations. There are also reports of mask shortages for medical personnel, and if this is a budget issue, it should be addressed as soon as possible," he said.

Regarding Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun's decision to personally go to Daegu to lead the efforts, Kim said, "Although he says he is working hard, his presence could greatly interfere on the ground. I ask that the various expert demands raised by the Medical Association be faithfully reflected on-site to help with quarantine efforts, and that he refrain from making remarks like 'Business is slow, so you must be comfortable,' which could provoke anger."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.