4th Supplementary Budget Bill Deliberation in National Assembly... Ruling and Opposition Clash Over Communication Fees, Care Costs, and Fairness Issues

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki is speaking at the '8th Emergency Economic Meeting Joint Briefing' held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 10th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The 4th supplementary budget bill (supplementary budget), focused on supporting small business owners and vulnerable employment groups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, is entering review with the goal of passing through the National Assembly this week.

Among the supplementary budget projects, the payment of 20,000 KRW in communication fees to all citizens aged 13 and older, and the expansion of care cost support to include parents with elementary school children, have emerged as major points of contention.

According to the government and the National Assembly on the 13th, the biggest issue in reviewing the 7.8 trillion KRW 4th supplementary budget bill is the 20,000 KRW communication fee payment to 46 million citizens aged 13 and above.

The opposition party, the People Power Party, has announced during the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee review that it will correct the "20,000 KRW communication fee payment to all citizens" project, which was allocated 930 billion KRW, and the Justice Party has also expressed opposition, with public opinion divided on the issue.

In particular, the People Power Party proposed an alternative of "rather than 20,000 KRW for communication fees, let's provide flu vaccinations to all citizens." In response, the ruling party and government stated that in the previous 3rd supplementary budget, 197.6 billion KRW was allocated to prioritize flu vaccinations for 16 million high-risk groups.

Considering the increased burden of care costs due to school and daycare closures or remote classes caused by COVID-19, the government decided to provide 200,000 KRW in cash per child to households with children in elementary school or younger, which has also become a controversial issue.

A total budget of 1.1 trillion KRW was allocated to 5.32 million children, including 2.52 million preschool children and 2.8 million elementary school students (including alternative schools and homeschooling), at 200,000 KRW each.

The opposition views the "special care support payment for children in elementary school or younger," which was added at the last minute at the ruling party's request, as an inappropriate cash handout policy. As the support target was set only up to elementary school students, parents with middle and high school children have expressed dissatisfaction, saying they receive no support.

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

Furthermore, regarding the "New Hope Fund" for small business owners and micro-entrepreneurs, which was allocated around 3 trillion KRW, controversy over fairness has arisen concerning the government's proposed selection criteria, drawing attention to whether revisions will be made during the National Assembly review process.

A representative case is the controversy over the cutoff date for the "500,000 KRW support for closed small business owners" project.

The government decided to provide 500,000 KRW per person as a "closed store re-challenge incentive" to 200,000 small business owners who closed due to the COVID-19 resurgence, allocating a budget of 100 billion KRW. The payment target was set as small business owners who reported closure after August 16, when social distancing measures were raised to level 2 due to the COVID-19 resurgence.

Despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19 since the first half of the year and cumulative damages, small business owners who closed before the cutoff date of August 16 are excluded from receiving support.

It is also controversial that among the "businesses subject to closure" designated by the government, only "entertainment bars" and "colatecs" were excluded from this support despite being subject to the same business restriction measures.

Individual taxi drivers registered as small business owners will receive 1 million KRW from the New Hope Fund if their sales decline due to the COVID-19 resurgence, but corporate taxi drivers who are employees are excluded from this support, causing significant backlash.

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