"I was surprised that the National Assembly has so little influence on the budget"... Opposition calls for review of 'budget bill legality' and more

Democratic Party Continuous Forum on Change and Innovation
Discussion on Budget Review Reform Including Introduction of Top-Down Evaluation
Push to Abolish Additional Approval Rights in Case of Constitutional Amendment

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] There have been calls for changes in the National Assembly's budget formulation and review process to overcome the administrative state, where the executive branch effectively controls state affairs. Starting from reforms to the National Assembly Act that would allow parliamentary participation in the budget review process, discussions should include constitutional amendments addressing the principle of budget legality and the existence of the government's consent right for budget increases.

On the 8th, progressive members of the Democratic Party held a 'Continuous Forum on Change and Innovation' to discuss 'How to Reform the Administrative State.'

Hong Gi-won, a Democratic Party lawmaker who presented at the forum, said, "When I worked in the executive branch, I didn't realize, but after coming to the National Assembly and reviewing the budget, I was surprised at how little influence lawmakers have on the budget," adding, "They have remarkably little authority." Hong explained, "As you know, the Ministry of Economy and Finance effectively holds all authority over the budget," and "They have all the information, and the National Assembly cannot increase the budget without the government's consent."

In particular, Hong emphasized the need for a top-down review of the budget. He argued that the National Assembly should be able to participate in the overall budget direction and resource allocation process. He said, "The National Assembly plays no role in strategic resource allocation decisions," and "The government decides, through inter-ministerial consultations, how much of the total budget to allocate to welfare or what percentage to spend on Social Overhead Capital (SOC), while lawmakers can only request adding or removing budget items for projects in their constituencies." He added, "The National Assembly should be drawing the big picture, such as how much to allocate to welfare, SOC, and diplomacy/security, but in reality, they only handle the most minor parts," and "Compared to the Ministry of Economy and Finance's budget office, the 300 lawmakers perform less than one percent of the work. Ultimately, since it is difficult to review the budget without the Ministry's analytical data, the National Assembly ends up conducting a hit-or-miss review, adding or cutting items arbitrarily," he lamented.

He introduced legislative proposals by Democratic Party lawmakers Maeng Sung-kyu and Kim Jin-pyo, including converting the Budget and Accounts Committee into a permanent standing committee with authority to review the total amount of the government's budget proposal, and requiring the government to report resource allocation plans to the National Assembly during the budget formulation stage.

Additionally, he proposed measures such as constitutional amendments to transfer tax legality and budget formulation rights from the government to the legislature, similar to the United States. He said, "Currently, our budget is presented in tables, whereas in the U.S., the total amount and how it can be spent are clearly defined," adding, "It should be changed to a method where the budget is approved in the form of legislation." He noted, "Most major countries have adopted the principle of budget legality, and only Korea and Japan do not legislate it."

He also saw the need for changes regarding the budget proposal itself. Hong said, "There are discussions about options such as the government submitting the budget proposal but transferring actual formulation authority to the National Assembly, or maintaining the current government-led formulation but establishing constitutional grounds for the National Assembly to actively participate from the beginning." There are also talks about reviewing the abolition of the government's consent right for budget increases through constitutional amendments. Hong introduced, "Changes to the total fiscal amount within the government's budget proposal through National Assembly budget review are less than 1%," and "Among 33 OECD countries, 17 parliaments have unlimited authority to amend the budget."

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