"Three Weeks Past Legal Deadline"… National Assembly Budget Bill Processing 'Longest Delay'

Longest since the 2014 National Assembly Advancement Act
Ruling party: "Sorry for wasting time"
Opposition: "Thank you for waiting"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The ruling and opposition parties passed next year's budget bill in a plenary session that extended past midnight on the 24th. This delay, exceeding the legal deadline by about three weeks, earned the notorious label of the 'longest delay' since the implementation of the National Assembly Advancement Act.

After continued breakdowns in budget negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's first budget bill passed the National Assembly not only after the legal deadline (December 2) but also beyond the end of the regular session (December 9).

This exceeded the legal deadline by a full three weeks (21 days), marking the longest delay since the National Assembly Advancement Act was enacted in 2014.

Although the Speaker of the National Assembly set the final deadline for processing as the 23rd, the plenary session was held on that day, but the budget vote took place after midnight, resulting in the budget being processed over two days.

The floor leaders of both parties, who led the negotiations, bowed their heads at party caucus meetings held before the budget was passed that day. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, apologized at the People Power Party caucus, saying, "Members have waited a long time. If it had ended on December 2 or 9, you could have spent the precious year-end meaningfully in your constituencies, but because the budget was delayed, you had to stay in the National Assembly and couldn't use your time properly. I sincerely apologize."

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, also expressed gratitude at the Democratic Party caucus, saying, "First of all, I thank our citizens and members who patiently waited."

However, both parties praised themselves for achieving an expansion of the 'livelihood budget.' The People Power Party stated in a press release that "without increasing the national debt, we secured full support for reducing the burden on people's livelihoods, caring for socially vulnerable groups, and supporting future generations," reflecting a total budget of about 1.3 trillion won in these areas.

A total of 932.3 billion won was allocated to ease the burden on people's livelihoods amid high inflation and high interest rates, 410 billion won was added to temporarily raise the cash receipt and credit card income deduction limit by 1 million won, and 36.8 billion won was increased for easing mortgage loan requirements. Additionally, 300 billion won was newly invested to alleviate the high-interest burden through expanded special management stabilization funds for small business owners, and 80 billion won was newly contributed to the Credit Guarantee Fund to expand refinancing loans for small business owners and self-employed individuals by 1 trillion won.

Ruling and Opposition Exchange Yoon Suk-yeol Budget vs. Lee Jae-myung Budget

[Image source=Yonhap News]

A total of 140.5 billion won was allocated to strengthen the semiconductor industry competitiveness emphasized by President Yoon Suk-yeol since the presidential election, including 100 billion won for infrastructure development in semiconductor specialized complexes in Pyeongtaek and Yongin, and 20 billion won for a semiconductor startup academy budget.

The Democratic Party of Korea also claimed in a press release, "The Democratic Party led budget negotiations to block tax law revisions favoring the ultra-rich and conglomerates and to ensure tax cuts benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and ordinary citizens," boasting an expansion of 1.4 trillion won in livelihood economy budgets. Included were 352.5 billion won for local gift certificates, known as the 'Lee Jae-myung budget,' and 663 billion won for rental housing.

Lee Jae-myung has emphasized renewable energy and carbon neutrality since his presidential candidacy and after becoming party leader. Accordingly, the renewable energy support budget was increased by 50 billion won compared to the government proposal. The strategic crop direct payment project budget to stabilize rice prices was also increased by 40.1 billion won. Floor leader Park said, "The fact that we were able to finalize by reflecting many of the Democratic Party's demands is a result made possible by all 169 members laying the groundwork from the budget review process," expressing repeated thanks.

Major contentious budget items involved 'deals' between the ruling and opposition parties during negotiations. The budget for operating the Police Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Personnel Information Management Unit under the Ministry of Justice, a key project of the Yoon Suk-yeol government and the biggest point of contention in this budget negotiation, was cut by 50% from the original government proposal (about 510 million won) but was agreed to be included as a formal budget rather than as a contingency fund. The budget for issuing local gift certificates and public rental housing loan projects, pushed by the Democratic Party as the 'Lee Jae-myung budget,' was reduced in scale amid opposition from the People Power Party.

To prevent delayed budget processing after the introduction of the National Assembly Advancement Act in 2014, the National Assembly Act was amended to introduce automatic submission of the government budget proposal.

However, except for 2014 and 2020, the deadline was missed every year. The budget was processed on December 3 in 2015 and 2016, December 6 in 2017, and December 8 in 2018.

Last year, a midnight plenary session was scheduled on the legal deadline of December 2, but due to delays in the Ministry of Economy and Finance's adjustment work following negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties, the deadline was exceeded by one day.

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