People Power Party Pushes for Inclusion of 3rd Disaster Relief Fund Worth 3.6 Trillion Won in Next Year's Budget Proposal

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] On the 24th, the People Power Party officially decided to push forward with a plan to allocate 3.6 trillion won for the third round of disaster relief funds in next year’s budget. This came after the party effectively adopted the proposal made by Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Jong-in the previous day as the party’s official stance.

At the party’s floor strategy meeting that day, Policy Committee Chairman Lee Jong-bae stated, "We will promptly provide 3.6 trillion won in disaster relief funds to the necessary sectors, including support for industries hit hard by the third wave of COVID-19 such as taxis, indoor gyms, private academies, and PC rooms, as well as emergency livelihood support for households in crisis."

The People Power Party also announced its plan to promote six major livelihood budgets to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

The six major livelihood budgets focus on ▲livelihood budgets to overcome COVID-19 ▲national health protection budgets including nationwide COVID-19 vaccines ▲childcare support budgets ▲budgets to accompany the vulnerable ▲rural livelihood budgets ▲and budgets to reward national dedication.

Specifically, alongside the third disaster relief fund, a uniform emergency childcare support payment of 200,000 won will be provided to elementary, middle, and high school students, and special support for industries facing closure and small business owners will be strengthened. Additionally, the plan includes ▲securing a 1 trillion won budget for COVID-19 vaccine procurement ▲establishing five additional infectious disease specialized hospitals for early treatment and active prevention of COVID-19 ▲doubling the meal support for children at risk of food insecurity (to 10,000 won) ▲supporting a warm winter for socially vulnerable groups such as the disabled and the elderly ▲increasing the budget for farmers affected by natural disasters ▲raising childcare fees at daycare centers (from 240,000 won to 300,000 won per month) ▲increasing veterans’ allowances by 200,000 won ▲and raising risk duty allowances for firefighters by 140,000 won.

Chairman Lee said, "The government is ignoring the cries of citizens suffering from COVID-19 and plans to invest 21.3 trillion won of public funds in the Korean New Deal project, which is disconnected from people’s livelihoods," adding, "We will fully cut the government’s populist, wasteful, and showy budgets and actively push for an increase in livelihood budgets."

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