'Day of Veto on Nursing Act'... Opposition Party Unilaterally Passes Interest-Free Student Loan Act

Lee Taegyu, People Power Party Whip, Leaves Just Before Vote
Agenda Adjustment Committee Exceeds 30 Days

The "Special Act on Student Loan Repayment After Employment," which provides some interest-free benefits for student loans repaid after employment, was unilaterally processed by the Democratic Party of Korea in the National Assembly's Education Committee, the relevant standing committee, on the 17th. On the same day President Yoon Seok-yeol exercised his veto power on the Nursing Act amendment passed by the opposition-led plenary session, the opposition once again pushed through legislation.

On that day, the Democratic Party passed the amendment to the Special Act on Student Loan Repayment After Employment at the Education Committee's full meeting. Except for Lee Tae-gyu, the Education Committee secretary from the People Power Party, the other committee members protested the bill's processing by not attending. Lee also expressed opposition to the forced processing when the voting procedure began and then left.

The "student loan repayment after employment" system requires university students who have taken out student loans to repay the principal and interest after graduation. Currently, all interest must be paid even before repayment of the principal after employment, but the amendment includes provisions to exempt interest on loans before employment. It also includes provisions to exempt interest when income ceases due to circumstances such as parental leave, unemployment, or business closure even after repayment has started.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Previously, this agenda was referred to the Agenda Coordination Committee, but Min Hyung-bae, who returned to the Democratic Party, participated in the committee's review as an independent member at the time, effectively nullifying the deliberation period of up to 90 days. The Democratic Party's forced processing of the bill at the full meeting on this day was due to the National Assembly Act, which requires the relevant standing committee to pass the bill within 30 days after the Agenda Coordination Committee's review. Coincidentally, this day was also when the Nursing Act amendment, passed by the Democratic Party-led plenary session, was returned to the National Assembly after President Yoon exercised his veto at the Cabinet meeting.

The People Power Party opposed the amendment, citing issues of fairness with vulnerable groups such as youth who did not attend university and concerns about moral hazard. Lee Tae-gyu demanded withdrawal of the forced processing by the Democratic Party through a press conference with People Power Party Education Committee members. The People Power Party lawmakers pointed out, "This bill remained at a theoretical discussion level when the Democratic Party was the ruling party with a more favorable and responsible environment for bill processing," and added, "Now that they are the opposition, we want to ask what political justification there is for suddenly pushing this as the top priority livelihood bill." Furthermore, they criticized, "This bill even exempts interest for youth from households in income bracket 8, with monthly household incomes exceeding 10 million won. High school graduates or below have no such loan benefits at all, and considering that interest rates for small loans for ordinary people are 3-4%, exempting 1.7% interest on student loans even for youth from upper-middle-class households cannot escape criticism as populism aimed at winning youth votes rather than genuinely thinking about youth."

Meanwhile, President Yoon explained at the Cabinet meeting that "(Since the inauguration of the current government) we have normalized the anti-market economic policies obsessed with populism and ideology into a market-centered, private-led economy based on a free market economy."

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