Opposition Party: "Budget Bill Must Pass on the 20th... Double Special Prosecutor Bill to Be Handled on the 28th"

Lee Jae-myung "If Negotiations Fail, We Have No Choice but to Vote on a Unilateral Amendment to Reduce the Amount"
Hong Ik-pyo "Special Double Investigation and Itaewon Disaster Special Act to Be Passed at the Plenary Session on the 28th"

The Democratic Party of Korea announced that it will definitely pass next year's budget bill on the 20th and, if negotiations with the opposition fail, will hold a vote on a reduced amendment as a Democratic Party-only proposal.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 8th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the 8th, at the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly, Representative Lee Jae-myung said, "The ruling party is obstructing next year's budget bill," and added, "If negotiations fail, the Democratic Party has no choice but to process the amendment it prepared on its own."

Representative Lee pointed out, "Since the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, many unprecedented new things have happened. One of them is the ruling party that obstructs. Usually, when it comes to obstruction, the opposition party comes to mind, but these days it has completely changed, and when you think of obstruction, the ruling party comes to mind." He continued, "The current budget bill process seems to be exactly such a case. The government and ruling party must feel infinite responsibility for state affairs," emphasizing, "You cannot take responsibility for state affairs by obstructing."

Floor Leader Hong Ik-pyo also said regarding next year's budget bill, "We will definitely pass it on the 20th (when the plenary session is scheduled)."

The floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties agreed at a meeting chaired by Speaker Kim Jin-pyo the previous day to hold a special session of the National Assembly from the 11th and to hold plenary sessions on the 20th and 28th to process next year's budget bill and other bills.

Floor Leader Hong said, "Today, Speaker Kim stopped us from passing even our party's amendment alone in the plenary session, barely postponing it until the 20th," and criticized, "The reason for postponing it to the 20th is absurd. The president is absent due to an overseas trip, so they say the budget bill cannot be processed next week and should be handled the following week, but I don't know what that means," adding, "Don't blame the opposition again for the delay until the 20th."

The Democratic Party plans to process the budget bill on the 20th and then handle the special prosecutor bills investigating allegations such as stock manipulation involving First Lady Kim Geon-hee, the 'Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club' special prosecutor bill, collectively called the 'double special prosecutor' bills, and the Itaewon disaster special law at the plenary session on the 28th.

Floor Leader Hong emphasized, "On the 20th, we will pass the budget bill no matter what, and on the 28th, we will pass both special prosecutor bills and the Itaewon special law."

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