Kim Tae-nyeon: "4th Disaster Relief Fund to Be Distributed Starting Late March"

Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 15th and delivering an opening remark. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 15th that he will push to start distributing the 4th round of disaster relief funds from the latter half of next month.

At the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly that morning, Floor Leader Kim said, "Through party-government consultations, we will prepare a supplementary budget bill in February and have it processed by the National Assembly in March so that payments can begin in the latter half of March, moving forward with speed."

He added, "At yesterday’s high-level party-government-civil meeting, we agreed on the principle that the 4th disaster relief fund should minimize blind spots and provide broader and more substantial support than previous relief funds. We will also promptly support tailored disaster relief funds for self-employed and small business owners affected by the 3rd COVID-19 wave."

Regarding the prolonged COVID-19 employment crisis, Floor Leader Kim stated, "We will make extraordinary efforts." He said, "To expand jobs, we will increase direct jobs by the government and local governments and expedite new hires in public institutions. We will also focus all efforts on economic innovation legislation in February and March, including regulatory innovation laws such as the five regulatory sandbox bills to promote private investment and employment, and K-New Deal-related legislation to foster new industries and create a foundation for quality jobs."

He continued, "We will expand employment retention subsidies for face-to-face service industries and consider extending the designation period for special employment support sectors. We will mobilize all available policy tools to overcome the employment crisis in the first quarter," he emphasized.

Meanwhile, regarding some domestic far-right groups sending a letter of support to Harvard University Professor Mark Ramseyer, who claimed that comfort women were prostitutes, Floor Leader Kim strongly criticized, saying, "Because of these foolish people, Japan’s far-right forces are glorifying war crimes and provocatively escalating Korea-Japan conflicts."

He said, "Calling these people far-right figures is not enough; they should be called traitors. This reconfirms that far-right forces are rooted in pro-Japanese sentiment and are native Japanese collaborators (tochak-waegu)," he sharply stated.

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