Ruling and Opposition Agree on '17 Trillion+α' Supplementary Budget... 3 Million Won for Small Business Owners

People Power Party Reverses Position Amid Backlash Concerns

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Hyunju Lee and Hyunji Kwon] The ruling and opposition parties concluded on the 21st to hold a plenary session of the National Assembly at 6 p.m. to agree on the supplementary budget (Chugyeong) bill. This was the result of the opposition party stepping back due to concerns about a backlash before the presidential election, despite initially demanding payments of up to 46 trillion won.

At 10 a.m. on the 21st, the floor leaders of both parties conducted negotiations on the supplementary budget bill chaired by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok and announced this decision.

The tension between the ruling and opposition parties was intense even before the meeting began. The Democratic Party emphasized the swift processing of the budget bill, while the People Power Party raised issues with the passage procedure through the Special Budget and Accounts Committee. Democratic Party floor leader Yoon Ho-jung said in his opening remarks, "Mr. Speaker, I request that the supplementary budget bill be definitely processed in today’s plenary session," adding, "The spread of Omicron is exceeding our predictions. Due to social distancing, the pain experienced by small business owners and self-employed individuals is worsening." He continued, "The opposition party has even said the Special Budget and Accounts Committee’s handling of the supplementary budget bill is invalid, but this cannot be invalid," and stated, "All legal procedures prescribed by the National Assembly Act have been followed, and the supplementary budget bill has already been submitted to the plenary session."

In response, People Power Party floor leader Kim Ki-hyun said, "It is undeniable that the failure to include this in the original budget and having to do it through a supplementary budget is a policy failure," and criticized, "I deeply regret that the government and ruling party’s lack of cooperation ultimately prevented the passage of the 46 trillion won." He added, "It is very regrettable that due to the excessive demand to hold a meeting at 12:01 a.m., the meeting effectively did not exist, causing misunderstanding that it was processed in the Budget and Accounts Committee," and said, "From the opposition party’s standpoint, the supplementary budget bill should be properly finalized and processed through the correct procedures even by today."

The opposition party’s change of stance was due to public opinion shifting in favor of the supplementary budget. There were concerns about a possible backlash in the presidential election. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by TBS from 1,002 people nationwide aged 18 and over on the 18th and 19th, a majority of the public supported the ‘priority processing’ of the supplementary budget for support of self-employed and small business owners. The survey showed that 51.5% supported "priority processing due to urgent support needs, with further discussion after the presidential election," and 20.1% said "the supplementary budget should be increased and then processed because the support amount is insufficient." The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Ahead of the final plenary session, the ruling and opposition parties will begin work on amendments to the supplementary budget bill and finalize procedural issues in the Budget and Accounts Committee. For review, senior deputy floor leaders and Budget and Accounts Committee secretaries from both parties will meet to discuss. The scale is expected to increase from the government’s initial proposal of 14 trillion won to 3.5 trillion won proposed by the ruling party, plus the amount demanded by the opposition party. The final scale is expected to be 17.5 trillion won plus α.

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