Kim Ki-hyun "Democratic Party's 'Half-hearted Vote-Buying Supplementary Budget'... Where is Lee Jae-myung Hiding?"

"Warning to the Democratic Party Leadership That Trampled on Their Own 35 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget Increase"

Kim Ki-hyun, floor leader of the People Power Party, is delivering opening remarks at the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 11th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] Kim Ki-hyun, the floor leader of the People Power Party, strongly criticized the Democratic Party’s attempt to unilaterally pass an additional supplementary budget of “16 trillion won + α” as a “meager vote-buying supplementary budget.” He also pointed out that Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, is “hiding behind and keeping silent.”

On the 18th, Kim expressed this view on Facebook regarding the Democratic Party’s attempt to pass the supplementary budget alone. He said, “Candidate Lee Jae-myung promised the public a supplementary budget of 35 trillion won, but the Democratic Party leadership is trying to force through a ‘meager vote-buying supplementary budget’ of only 16 trillion won.” He criticized the amount as far too insufficient to adequately support small business owners and self-employed people suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. The People Power Party is advocating for a 46 trillion won supplementary budget, including a 10 million won loss compensation support fund for small business owners.

Kim also criticized the Democratic Party’s stance, saying, “The Democratic Party insisted on an unprecedented supplementary budget in January, but when our party and candidate Yoon Seok-youl proposed, ‘If we are going to have a supplementary budget anyway, let’s make it a 46 trillion won budget for sufficient compensation,’ they said, ‘That’s not acceptable,’” calling it a “contrarian attitude.”

He then sharply criticized candidate Lee. Kim said, “Where on earth is Lee Jae-myung, who is supposed to be the ruling party’s candidate, hiding right now?” and added, “Why are you cowardly hiding behind and keeping silent without warning the Democratic Party leadership that cruelly trampled on your promise of a 35 trillion won supplementary budget increase and without instructing them to pass the 35 trillion won supplementary budget?” Regarding Lee’s slogan, “Lee Jae-myung does it,” Kim criticized, “Should we read it as ‘Lee Jae-myung is also good at lying as if it’s a daily meal’?”

He also emphasized that the Democratic Party’s meager supplementary budget is a political calculation. He said, “(Candidate Lee and the Democratic Party) often threaten the public and the opposition, but when the election becomes unfavorable, they seem to revert to that bad habit again,” and added, “You should not approach livelihood issues with such political calculations.” The Democratic Party plans to first pass the government’s revised supplementary budget and then consider a second supplementary budget after the presidential election, but this is nothing more than a trick to exploit the COVID-19 situation for the election.

Kim concluded, “We will not postpone the difficult lives of ordinary people until after the presidential election,” and urged, “We call for the active cooperation of candidate Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party so that a broader and more sufficient supplementary budget can be passed as soon as possible.”

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