Choo Kyung-ho "20,000 Won Communication Fee, Different Voices Even Within the Ruling Party... Should Be Dropped Even Now"

Finance Subcommittee Chairman Choo Kyung-ho is presiding over the Budget and Accounts Special Committee subcommittee meeting on the 10th. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] On the 16th, Chu Kyung-ho, a member of the People Power Party, commented on the '20,000 KRW nationwide communication fee payment' included in the 4th supplementary budget (supplementary budget) proposal, saying, "It seems that different voices are emerging even within the ruling party recently. Even now, the government and ruling party should withdraw and focus support on sectors that have suffered more damage."

On the same day, in response to the host's question on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' program, "Does it seem that the ruling party might withdraw?" Chu said, "Initially, it was proposed as an agreement among the party, government, and Blue House, so it was said to be immovable, but recently, different voices seem to be emerging."

Chu maintained his stance, saying, "I am still very negative about the communication fee payment." He sharply criticized, "It is a misfired bullet fired by the Democratic Party of Korea due to political greed for sensationalism. Although 20,000 KRW per individual is not a large amount, overall it amounts to about 1 trillion KRW, an enormous sum, and it is like spending national finances as if throwing money from a helicopter."

Chu pointed out, "Currently, most consumers use fixed-rate plans or unlimited data usage fees for communication charges. Even looking at the communication companies' revenue from fees in the first half of this year, that is, the communication fees spent by consumers, communication fees have actually decreased compared to last year." He added, "Even if it helps by receiving just 1 KRW or 100 KRW, it is extremely inefficient to use the entire national budget this way. It is not money falling from the sky; it is all borrowed money, so spending it on places that do not evoke much gratitude is not desirable."

While emphasizing that the People Power Party's proposed nationwide free flu vaccination budget should be invested, Chu drew a line against the prospect of accepting the communication fee payment in exchange.

He said, "The cost of free flu vaccination can be sufficiently managed between 100 billion and 200 billion KRW. The expansion of communication fees and free flu vaccination are not matters to be negotiated and exchanged with each other. They should be approached separately and reviewed."

However, Chu acknowledged, "After the announcement of the supplementary budget, various issues have been raised. It is quite puzzling even to us why individual taxi drivers are included but corporate taxi drivers are not. There is also a reasonable argument about why the special childcare budget only supports families with elementary school children and not middle or high school students," suggesting the possibility of expansion during the review process.

He stated, "We plan to actively cooperate with the ruling party to carry out these parts progressively. We need to find such areas and actively consider ways to provide broader and more proactive support," indicating the direction of the review.

Regarding the agreement reached the previous day to pass the 4th supplementary budget in the plenary session on the 22nd, Chu said, "It depends on how progressive and actively the ruling party accepts these contentious issues reasonably raised by the people and the opposition party. If the government and ruling party insist on the original draft and refuse to listen to any opinions, it will be difficult to process it on the 22nd."

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