Disagreement Between Ruling and Opposition Parties Over Presidential Secretariat's Operating Expenses... Budget Subcommittee Disrupted

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts' Subcommittee on Budget Adjustment (Budget Subcommittee) faced a deadlock on the 25th over the Presidential Secretariat's operational expenses, as the ruling and opposition parties failed to reach an agreement, leading to a disruption.

On the morning of the same day, during the Budget Subcommittee meeting held at the National Assembly, the ruling and opposition parties clashed while reviewing the reduction of the Presidential Office's operational expenses (15.87 billion won), resulting in the subcommittee adjourning after about an hour. The opposition party demanded a reduction of 530 million won, while the ruling party insisted on maintaining the original budget.

Song Ki-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, expressed doubt, saying, "If President Yoon said he would reduce the number of staff in the Presidential Office, shouldn't the total amount be reduced compared to 2020?" In response, Yoon Jae-soon, Secretary General of the Presidential Secretariat, said, "Although the number of personnel has decreased, the workload has not. Since this is the first budget requested by the new government, please evaluate it after one year."

Lee Yong-ho, a member of the People Power Party, also supported this, stating, "While there is some merit to what Representative Song said, the functions of the Presidential Office have not changed significantly from before."

However, Han Byung-do, a Democratic Party member, raised his voice, saying, "The President said he would drastically reduce the Presidential Office staff from 490 to about 409, which is about a 20% decrease," and added, "Reduce the budget by 500 million won. It will not affect the work at all."

Lee Cheol-gyu, the ruling party's secretary from the People Power Party, countered, saying, "Previous administrations have spent over 16 billion won annually on the Presidential Office's operational expenses. This is the minimum operating cost," and added, "Considering inflation and the decline in currency value, it would be difficult to operate even with an increase, so a progressive acceptance is necessary."

However, as the ruling and opposition budget committee members failed to narrow their differences, discussions about deferral arose, and eventually, Woo Won-sik, the chairman of the Budget Committee, declared an adjournment, saying, "Let's consider this further."

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