"Unreasonable" vs "Different from Previous Years"... Budget Bill Processing Blocked by Cuts in 'Foggy Situation' (Comprehensive)

Park Hong-geun "Depends on the attitude of the government and ruling party"
Joo Ho-young "Cannot reduce the amount as before"
Expressed willingness to process by the 9th, but the possibility of processing has become unclear

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] The floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties engaged in negotiations on the 7th to pass next year's budget bill but failed to narrow their sharp differences. Both sides agree on passing the budget bill within the regular session of the National Assembly, but they could not reach a consensus on specific projects or even on the scale of budget cuts, which is the basic framework for revising the entire budget during the parliamentary budget review.

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, met under the chairmanship of National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo to discuss the 639 trillion won scale of next year's budget and related budget subsidiary bills.

After the meeting, Park told reporters, "I don't have much to say," adding, "There is a persistent insistence on an utterly unreasonable position regarding the scale of government budget cuts, so the gap remains wide and unresolved."

When asked whether he would return to the negotiation table, Park replied, "It depends on the attitude of the government and the ruling party," passing the ball to the other side.

At a party meeting held later that afternoon, Park also said, "The People Power Party is ignoring the livelihood budget and stubbornly claiming that all budgets are President Yoon Seok-yeol's budgets," adding, "There are many contentious issues such as budget subsidiary bills and cuts." He said, "The ruling party is holding out, saying they don't care even about a provisional budget, and is obstructing the budget bill without any alternative to overcome the deadlock."

Although he did not disclose specific negotiation details, he clearly indicated that there are significant differences between the ruling and opposition parties. He said, "I was so shocked that I left halfway through after seeing the utterly unreasonable level of cuts proposed," adding, "In this way, one cannot help but question whether the government truly has sincerity and earnestness in processing the budget bill."

Floor leader Joo also explained, "There were opinions on the total scale of next year's budget cuts, but the difference in views on the cuts was too large to reach an agreement." He said, "The government plans to reduce this year's expenditure by 24 trillion won and is legally required to send 40% to local governments, so the discretionary budget available to the central government has decreased," adding, "The Democratic Party demanded detailed data submission and said they could not agree because the scale of cuts was too low, so we parted ways."

Unlike previous years, next year's budget was drafted with austerity, so there is no budget that can be cut at the discretion of the National Assembly. Considering the usual flow of budget negotiations in the National Assembly, where a certain portion is cut from the government's original proposal and then increases are discussed based on the cut scale, the floor leaders of both parties have failed to secure even the minimum basic premise for budget negotiations.

However, both sides agree that the deadline for passing the budget bill is the 9th. Jin Sung-jun, senior deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party, appeared on KBS Radio's Choi Kyung-young's Strong Current program and said, "The legal deadline for passing the budget bill was originally the 2nd, but that date has already passed," adding, "There is no disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties that it must be passed by the last day of the regular session, the 9th." Song Eon-seok, senior deputy floor leader of the People Power Party, also said on CBS Radio's Kim Hyun-jung's News Show, "Since 2014, the budget has never been passed within the regular session, which shows the National Assembly's respect for cooperation, coexistence, and tradition over many years," adding, "We must somehow pass it by the 9th."

However, Song also said, "The government drafts the budget," adding, "If the opposition party, even though it is the majority, tries to do the budget as it pleases, it would not only violate the core of parliamentary cooperation and long-standing traditions but also make normal state administration impossible." He said, "Telling someone to live according to the household budget prepared by the neighbor is a very wrong idea," adding, "It only sounds like they are throwing a tantrum just because they have the numbers." Regarding the budget bill, the government and the ruling party's intentions should be reflected more than the National Assembly, especially the majority Democratic Party's will.

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