People Power Party Announces Next Year's Budget 'Cuts'... "50% Reduction in Korean New Deal"

Spokesperson Choo Kyung-ho and Budget Committee Members Announce Direction for Reviewing 556 Trillion Won Budget
"All Emergency Care and Litigation Support, Which Should Have Been Prioritized, Were Cut"
"Cutting the Superficial New Deal Budget... Full Adjustment Needed"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The People Power Party has announced a major cut to next year's budget, which amounts to 556 trillion won. In particular, they evaluated the 21 trillion won allocated for the Korean New Deal budget as a "rehashed project with only a changed label" and declared their intention to reduce it by at least 10 trillion won. Instead, they plan to redirect the funds to emergency child care, support for small business owners, and COVID-19 response budgets.

Members of the People Power Party belonging to the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 28th to announce this review direction. They stated, "In short, this is a debt-ridden super-expansion budget. It accelerates the fiscal crisis," emphasizing, "We will cut at least 15 trillion won or more."

On the same day, the People Power Party revealed the 'Top 100 Problematic Projects in 5 Major Areas' and announced their intention to push for cuts. They raised their voices, pointing out that while 21.3 trillion won was reflected in the Korean New Deal project, emergency child care and support for small business owners were all cut. They said, "It is necessary to cut the Korean New Deal budget by at least 50% or more and fully adjust it to COVID-19 response budgets such as customized disaster relief."

Specifically, they selected ▲ the Financial Services Commission's New Deal Fund project budget of 600 billion won (due to poor existing fund investment performance), ▲ the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's renewable energy project budget of 379 billion won (due to the halving of solar power sales prices and side effects such as forest damage), ▲ the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's advanced road traffic system project budget of 578.5 billion won (concerns over unexecuted budget), and ▲ the Ministry of Science and ICT's digital divide resolution project budget of 74.5 billion won (digital New Deal education and promotion budget).

They also announced full cuts to new projects that overlap with existing projects or have insufficient plans, leading to budget waste.

As representative cases, they cited ▲ the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Win-Win Growth Stepping Stone project budget of 1.5 billion won to support Southeast Asian singers, ▲ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Digital Plus Public Diplomacy project budget of 6.7 billion won, which aims to expand the organization under the pretext of expanding non-face-to-face activities, ▲ the Fair Trade Commission's Public Data Portal project budget of 4 billion won, which plans to build a portal despite an existing public data portal, and ▲ the National Election Commission's Illegal Act Prevention project budget of 5.3 billion won, allocated for election-related cyber monitoring but criticized as media censorship.

The People Power Party also announced plans to make sweeping cuts to direct cash support budgets.

Specifically, they selected ▲ the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Youth Tomorrow Filling Deduction project budget of 129.4 billion won, which was increased to provide a lump sum to new employees even at large companies, ▲ the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' discount coupon project budget of 87.8 billion won, which was allocated to urge large supermarkets that have held discount events without national support to offer additional discounts, and ▲ the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's youth designer, crafts, and cultural arts educator internship project budget of 4.4 billion won, allocated to create six-month short-term part-time jobs.

In addition, the People Power Party included projects that were significantly increased after being cut by the National Assembly last year, projects criticized for annual execution delays and poor performance but whose budgets were increased, projects related to regime promotion with large budget increases, and projects without legal grounds as targets for cuts.

They said, "At least 10 trillion won or more should be allocated to support small business owners, the middle class, and ordinary citizens suffering from COVID-19," adding, "With the recognition that the ongoing COVID-19 response is the top priority, we will actively cut and adjust the budgets of the top 100 problematic projects to ensure that no precious taxpayer money is wasted."

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