Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree on 39 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget... Up to 10 Million Won for 3.71 Million Small Business Owners (Comprehensive)

Increase of 2.8 trillion KRW compared to government proposal... Total 62 trillion KRW including local relocation
Plenary session to be held this afternoon

Legal loss compensation expanded to sales under 3 billion KRW
Additional 1 million KRW payment for special workers, freelancers, corporate taxi and bus drivers
"Retroactive application and income reversal issues unresolved, to be discussed later"

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok, Democratic Party floor leader Park Hong-geun, People Power Party floor leader Kwon Seong-dong, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choo Kyung-ho are taking a commemorative photo at a meeting related to the supplementary budget bill held in the Speaker's office on the 29th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-joo] The ruling and opposition parties agreed on the afternoon of the 29th to hold a plenary session and pass the second supplementary budget (supplementary budget) bill.

Although no conclusion was reached on the contentious issues of retroactive application of loss compensation and income reversal, a breakthrough agreement was reached by deciding to expand the scope of loss compensation payments and legal loss compensation, and to increase payments by 1 million won each to special types of workers, freelancers, cultural artists, and corporate taxi and charter bus drivers. This is interpreted as being influenced by voter sentiment ahead of the June 1 local elections.

On the morning of the same day, Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party, and Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced this decision after meeting in the Speaker's office presided over by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok.

Floor leader Kwon said at a press briefing, "First, I am very pleased and relieved that the ruling and opposition parties have amicably agreed to provide loss support payments and compensation to small business owners affected by COVID-19." Floor leader Park also held a separate press conference and said, "With an urgent desire to bring hope to all citizens, including small business owners and self-employed people, to overcome difficult livelihoods as soon as possible, we made a magnanimous decision to process the supplementary budget today."

First, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to provide loss compensation payments ranging from 6 million to 10 million won to 3.71 million small business owners and self-employed people. The eligibility criteria based on sales revenue were expanded from the original government proposal of 3 billion won or less to 5 billion won or less.

In addition, for legal loss compensation for small business owners and self-employed people, the payment target was expanded from small enterprises with sales of 1 billion won or less to medium-sized enterprises with sales of up to 3 billion won. The compensation rate was also increased to 100%, and the minimum amount was raised from 500,000 won to 1 million won.

Speaker of the National Assembly Park Byeong-seok, Democratic Party floor leader Park Hong-geun, People Power Party floor leader Kwon Seong-dong, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choo Kyung-ho are meeting on the 29th in the Speaker's office to discuss the supplementary budget proposal. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Support payments for special types of workers, freelancers, and cultural artists were raised from 1 million won to 2 million won, and for corporate taxi and charter bus drivers, from 2 million won to 3 million won. The ruling and opposition parties also decided to inject an additional 100 billion won for the issuance of local love gift certificates.

An additional 20 billion won was added for the fuel price-linked subsidy, which was not included in the original government proposal, and subsidies for wildfire response increased by 13 billion won from the government’s original 100 billion won.

Budgets related to COVID-19 quarantine treatment costs, funeral expenses for the deceased, and dispatch personnel expenses were increased by 1.1 trillion won from the government proposal of 6.1 trillion won, bringing the final amount to 7.2 trillion won.

In summary, the supplementary budget scale increased by 2.8 trillion won from 36.4 trillion won (excluding statutory local transfer expenditures) to 39 trillion won. This budget is deducted from the amount the government initially planned for national debt repayment. Accordingly, the scale of national debt repayment decreases from the original government proposal of 9 trillion won to 7.5 trillion won.

At 7:30 p.m. on the same day, the ruling and opposition parties are scheduled to hold a plenary session to process the agreed supplementary budget bill.

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