Ruling Party Pushes for 'Nationwide Disaster Relief Fund'... 'Cashback' Plan Likely to Be Scrapped

Employment Jin, Senior Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Junyi Park] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to push for a 'universal disaster relief fund' as its party policy. They plan to adjust the second supplementary budget bill to expand the disaster relief fund recipients from the current bottom 80% income bracket to 100% of the population.

On the afternoon of the 13th, the Democratic Party leadership held a closed supreme council meeting at the National Assembly and announced, "We have effectively decided as a party policy to provide disaster relief funds to all citizens nationwide."

Senior Spokesperson Goh Yong-jin, speaking to reporters immediately after the supreme council meeting, explained, "The government's plan to provide funds to the bottom 80% income bracket has very ambiguous selection criteria and raises various fairness issues," adding, "In particular, many young people live in single-person households, and we accepted the criticism that their income criteria are very unclear."

He continued, "Considering the economic downturn that could be caused by the worsening quarantine situation, a universal disaster relief fund is necessary to stimulate domestic demand." However, he noted, "The bottom 80% income plan was submitted to the National Assembly after government-party consultations and Cabinet approval," adding, "It would be difficult for the party to proceed unilaterally without government consultation, so we will coordinate various differences through party-government-office consultations."

The amount and timing of the universal disaster relief fund will be decided later while monitoring the quarantine situation. Senior Spokesperson Goh said, "If the current quarantine situation does not improve, the payment timing will have to be delayed," adding, "It was originally scheduled for the end of August, or at the latest before Chuseok, but if the social distancing level 4 continues to be extended, the payment timing will inevitably be pushed back."

Regarding the scale of the supplementary budget increase, he said, "There is a need to increase the Hope Recovery Fund budget to provide stronger support for small business owners," adding, "If the national debt is repaid, the increase is estimated at 4 to 4.5 trillion won; if not repaid, about 2 to 2.5 trillion won."

Additionally, the 'credit card cashback' policy aimed at stimulating consumption among high-income earners is being scrapped. This appears to be due to criticism that the purpose of stimulating consumption does not align with the COVID-19 quarantine situation.

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