President Moon: "Do not wait for National Assembly approval of emergency disaster relief funds, notify recipients in advance" (Update)

April 14 Cabinet Meeting Approves Plan to Promote Emergency Disaster Relief Fund... Also Decides to Exempt Preliminary Feasibility Study for Emergency Disaster Relief Fund

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] On the 14th, President Moon Jae-in instructed at the Cabinet meeting held at the Cheong Wa Dae Yeomin 1 Building, "The government should not wait for the National Assembly to submit, deliberate, and pass the 2nd supplementary budget bill, but should notify the recipients of the emergency disaster relief fund in advance and start accepting applications."

President Moon said, "We must overcome the time taken for the deliberation of the supplementary budget bill," ordering as such. At the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Moon via video conference with the Government Complex Sejong on the same day, the 'Plan to Promote Emergency Disaster Relief Fund Related to COVID-19' was passed.

President Moon emphasized, "There is no reason to wait until the National Assembly deliberates and passes the supplementary budget bill to start accepting applications," adding, "It is necessary to quickly begin accepting applications from eligible recipients even before the National Assembly's deliberation."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, the government had decided to provide emergency disaster relief funds (1 million KRW for households of four or more) to approximately 14 million households in the bottom 70% income bracket based on health insurance premiums, to support citizens struggling due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and to respond to the economic crisis through stimulating domestic demand.

Considering that health insurance premiums may not reflect this year's income accurately, the government plans to accept objections from households whose income has sharply declined after the COVID-19 outbreak this year. The government intends to submit the 2nd supplementary budget bill worth about 9 trillion KRW, reflecting this emergency disaster relief fund support project, to the National Assembly immediately after the April 15 general election.

Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, explained, "President Moon's instruction means that government ministries should complete administrative procedures in advance so that once the National Assembly finalizes the supplementary budget bill, the emergency disaster relief funds can be promptly paid to the public."

President Moon said, "Under normal circumstances, the order would be to accept applications for the emergency disaster relief fund after the supplementary budget bill passes the National Assembly, but now is not a normal situation. The most important thing is speed." Furthermore, President Moon ordered each ministry to adopt a completely different approach from the past in the process of policy formulation and execution.

President Moon stated, "The government must surpass past methods not only in the content of policies but also in the process and procedures," adding, "This is not just an issue concerning the emergency disaster relief fund."

Meanwhile, at the Cabinet meeting, an exemption from the preliminary feasibility study was also approved to expedite the emergency disaster relief fund support project. According to the National Finance Act, new projects with a total project cost of 50 billion KRW or more and national financial support of 30 billion KRW or more are subject to preliminary feasibility studies.

Projects deemed necessary for national policy, such as regional balanced development and urgent socio-economic responses, with specific project plans established and confirmed through the Cabinet meeting, can be exempted from the preliminary feasibility study (Article 38 of the National Finance Act).

Spokesperson Kang said, "As parental childcare due to COVID-19 prolongs, the government has decided to expand support for family care leave benefits up to the maximum allowable period of 10 days," adding, "The proposal to spend 32.641 billion KRW from the 2020 general account contingency fund was also deliberated and approved at today's Cabinet meeting."

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