Song Young-gil "Withdrawal of Disaster Relief Fund Was Unavoidable Due to Budget Constraints"

Background of Candidate Lee Jae-myung's Payment Withdrawal
Party-Government Discussion... Not a Concept of Revenue Shortage

Song Young-gil, the Standing Election Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering opening remarks at the '1st Meeting of the Special Committee for Public Verification of Corruption in the Yoon Seok-yeol Family' held at the National Assembly on the 19th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Jeon Jin-young and Park Joon-yi] Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 19th regarding Lee Jae-myung, the party’s presidential candidate, withdrawing the nationwide disaster relief fund payment, "There are unavoidable aspects in the current budget accounting, so adjustments were made."

At the first meeting of the ‘Yoon Seok-yeol Family Corruption National Verification Special Committee’ held at the National Assembly that morning, Song said, "Yesterday, the party and government met and, together with Floor Leader Yoon Ho-jung, agreed to postpone the nationwide disaster relief fund issue to next year."

He explained, "Despite a tax revenue estimate reaching 19 trillion won, the current conditions make it difficult to immediately proceed with a supplementary budget," adding, "Using the possibility of tax payment deferral, the originally emphasized local currency budget by presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has been significantly increased from 6 trillion won to the usual scale of 21 trillion won to provide stronger protection for those on the borderline." He continued, "This adjustment is not due to a lack of revenue as some media claim, but due to unavoidable aspects in budget accounting," and expressed gratitude to candidate Lee for understanding and cooperating in reaching this consensus.

The previous day, candidate Lee stated, "I will not insist on the nationwide disaster relief fund," and "If agreement is difficult, urgent support should at least be provided for small business owners and self-employed individuals affected," effectively signaling the withdrawal of the nationwide disaster relief fund payment.

However, the opposition party is using this as an opportunity for criticism, claiming, "They changed their stance after facing public opposition." Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the morning floor strategy meeting, "They only changed their attitude after facing public opposition due to their absurd actions," and added, "They should first apologize for causing confusion with baseless claims and paralyzing government operations." Lawmaker Ryu Seong-gul also criticized, "The disaster relief fund controversy is due to incorrect tax revenue estimates," and said, "The Democratic Party is misleading people as if there is surplus tax revenue, but the government budget is running a 90 trillion won deficit this year as well."

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