Jeju Provincial Council Announces Large-Scale Budget Cuts for Next Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] As Jeju Special Self-Governing Province submitted a budget proposal worth 5.8299 trillion won to the Jeju Provincial Council, Council Chairman Jwa Nam-su appeared to lack the will to activate economic revitalization measures and announced a large-scale budget cut.

According to the Jeju Provincial Council on the 17th, Chairman Jwa Nam-su said in the opening remarks of the 1st plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 389th Jeju Provincial Council held the day before, “The size of next year’s budget proposal is 5.8299 trillion won, an increase of 0.12% compared to the previous year, but it actually decreased on a net basis,” adding, “Considering that metropolitan cities nationwide increased their budgets by an average of about 7.3%, the Jeju provincial government’s will to activate full-scale economic revitalization measures seems insufficient.”

He continued, “Even considering sunset projects, the budget cuts in sectors such as culture and tourism, which suffered the most from COVID-19, as well as environment and energy, do not align with Jeju’s values and the goals Jeju aims for,” and criticized, “From the perspective of the provincial council, which must represent the will of the residents, adjustments to the budget proposal submitted by Jeju seem inevitable.”

He also pointed out issues with the budget allocation for investment and contribution institutions, which saw a large-scale increase.

Chairman Jwa said, “The contributions to investment and contribution institutions increased by 12.3% (16.3 billion won) compared to the previous year, and the agency’s delegated project expenses rose by 81.3% (224 billion won) in just two years, reaching 499.1 billion won,” adding, “Our council will thoroughly examine the appropriateness of the budget allocation to ensure that these institutions faithfully perform their original duties and take responsibility for management performance.”

Regarding the annually increasing farm household debt issue, he expressed concern, saying, “Farm household debt, which was 54 million won at the launch of the 6th local government in 2014, increased by 37.7% to 75 million won last year,” and “Considering that Jeju has the highest agricultural management costs in the country, including facility expenses, the risk of bankruptcy in Jeju agriculture is quite high.”

He stated, “The farm household debt problem threatening the sustainability of Jeju agriculture is not a fate to be accepted but a problem to be solved,” and urged, “Since various problems in Jeju agriculture manifest as farm household debt, Jeju Province should form a TF team to discover tasks for system improvement and prepare measures to reduce farm household debt.”

He did not hold back criticism toward the Jeju Provincial Office of Education.

Chairman Jwa said, “Jeju is the only place in South Korea where special educational innovation is possible, with as many as 16 legally guaranteed special provisions,” and pointed out, “Although 15 years have passed since these special provisions were granted, we have not properly utilized the authority given to us.”

He added, “The Superintendent of Education should clearly explain to the residents whether there is a lack of will to utilize the special provisions or the reasons for not applying them,” and urged, “Even now, please urgently prepare measures to utilize the special law provisions for nurturing excellent global talents.”

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