Deadlock in the Public Administration Committee over the Proposal to Cut the Police Bureau Budget Following Unilateral Passage by the Opposition Party 야

Kim Gyo-heung "Regret over Budget Not Submitted Despite Approval Following National Assembly Act"
Lee Man-hee "Budget Forced Through by Majority Power... How to Further Embarrass"

On the 16th, at the plenary meeting of the Public Administration and Security Committee held at the National Assembly, Chairman Lee Chae-ik was talking with Kim Gyo-heung, the Democratic Party of Korea's secretary, and Lee Man-hee, the People Power Party's secretary. The committee was adjourned after loud exchanges between the ruling and opposition parties over the budget cuts related to Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min's business expenses and the Police Bureau. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] The full meeting of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee ended in disruption after about 40 minutes due to a clash between the ruling and opposition parties over whether to table the police bureau budget for next year, which the Democratic Party of Korea recently unilaterally decided to cut entirely at the committee's budget and settlement subcommittee.

On the 16th, the Democratic Party demanded that the budget proposals approved by the budget subcommittee, including the police bureau budget, be tabled at the meeting, while the People Power Party strongly opposed, calling it "a curse on the Yoon Seok-yeol administration through the budget." Earlier, the Public Administration and Security Committee's budget subcommittee had approved a full cut of the basic expenses of 209 million won and personnel expenses of 394 million won allocated to the police bureau for next year.

Kim Gyo-heung, the opposition party secretary of the Public Administration and Security Committee and a Democratic Party lawmaker, said in a procedural statement, "Today was the agreed date for budget approval between the ruling and opposition party secretaries, but the committee chairman and the People Power Party unilaterally did not table the budget proposal," adding, "I deeply regret that the budget proposal, which was approved according to the National Assembly Act, was not tabled at the full committee meeting."

He continued, "I request that the chairman and the People Power Party respect the results of the budget subcommittee approved according to the National Assembly Act and promptly table the 2023 budget for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and its affiliated agencies."

On the other hand, Lee Man-hee, the ruling party secretary and a People Power Party lawmaker, clearly expressed opposition, saying, "This budget proposal was forced through by majority power, completely ignoring the basic traditions of consensus, cooperation, and the various subcommittees of the National Assembly."

Lee criticized, "I think the Democratic Party's budget review focused only on 'how to obstruct state affairs,' 'how to cause more embarrassment,' and 'how to create a budget that supports the claims of Representative Lee Jae-myung.'" He added, "The police bureau budget is their basic personnel expenses," and questioned, "Are you saying not to pay salaries and still make them work?"

Lawmaker Kim Woong supported this, saying, "If the subcommittee vote was forced through as the authority of the members, whether to table the budget proposal or not is the chairman's authority."

As the gap between the ruling and opposition parties did not narrow, loud voices were exchanged throughout the meeting room. Chairman Lee Chae-ik of the Public Administration and Security Committee declared a recess after about 40 minutes when the secretaries of both parties engaged in a verbal dispute in front of the chairman's seat.

Chairman Lee repeatedly told opposition party secretary Kim Gyo-heung, who demanded tabling, "How can we table it without an agreement?" to which Kim protested, "What if the rest of the budgets cannot be tabled just because of the police bureau budget?"

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