Lee Jae-myung Urges Presidential Office to "Exercise Veto Power and Respect National Assembly's Legislation"

"Local Currency Budget, Support for Neighborhood Markets and Small Business Owners"

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, requested on the 14th during a meeting with officials from the Presidential Office, "Recently, legislative bills in the National Assembly have been subject to the exercise of veto power," and urged, "Please respect the positions and legislative bills of the National Assembly."

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering a greeting while meeting with Lee Gwan-seop, Director of Policy at the Presidential Office, and Han O-seop, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, in the party leader's office at the National Assembly on the 14th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

On the same day, Lee met with Lee Kwan-seop, Director of Policy at the Presidential Secretariat, and Han Oh-seop, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, who visited the party leader's office at the National Assembly in the afternoon. He said, "Of course, there will be difficulties because positions differ, but politics cannot be about one side unilaterally enforcing its will," adding, "I ask the government side to take special interest in this."

President Yoon Suk-yeol previously exercised the right to request reconsideration (veto power) on the enactment of the Nursing Act, the amendment to the Grain Management Act, the Yellow Envelope Act (amendments to Articles 2 and 3 of the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act), and the amendments to the Three Broadcasting Acts (Broadcasting Act, Promotion of Broadcasting Culture Act, and Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act). These bills were put to a re-vote in the plenary session of the National Assembly but were all rejected and discarded. The Democratic Party plans to pass a special prosecutor bill to investigate allegations surrounding Kim Geon-hee during the December extraordinary session, but the ruling People Power Party has proposed the exercise of presidential veto power on this as well.

Lee emphasized, "I hope the National Assembly will fully consider that it is a representative institution elected by the people and respect the positions of the National Assembly."

Regarding next year's budget, which is currently a tug-of-war between the ruling and opposition parties, he said, "There will be many difficulties for the government side regarding the budget, but from the opposition's perspective, there are many regrettable aspects," adding, "The public is very concerned about the reduction in the research and development (R&D) budget, which will determine the country's future, and the opposition shares this concern."

The government has set next year's R&D-related budget at 25.9 trillion won, a reduction of 5.2 trillion won compared to this year. In response, the Democratic Party reorganized the Ministry of Science and ICT budget during the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee budget review subcommittee on the 14th of last month, increasing it by 800 billion won over the government's original proposal and passed it unilaterally.

He also expressed regret that budgets for supporting low-income citizens and vulnerable groups were not increased. In particular, regarding the local currency budget, which the People Power Party regards as a representative "Lee Jae-myung budget," Lee said, "It is a budget necessary to support small businesses and self-employed people," and added, "I hope more special consideration will be given." He continued, "I think it would be good if the government firmly supports the budget for low-income or vulnerable groups, but it seems too stingy," and emphasized, "Ultimately, the position of Yongsan, the Presidential Office, will be the most important in settling this budget, but I ask for special attention to the opposition's position and the public's perception."

He also mentioned the issue of jeonse fraud victims, saying, "Since there has already been an agreement to revise the Special Act on Jeonse Victims, which supports victims first and the state compensates later, every six months, I hope there will be substantial progress."

Regarding nursing care fees covered by health insurance and the invalidation of illegal private loans, he said that both ruling and opposition parties are united in their stance and urged prompt implementation. On the 28th of last month, Lee proposed the "coverage of nursing hospital care fees" as his first pledge for the general election. This involves amending the National Health Insurance Act and other laws to include nursing hospital care fees within the scope of health insurance coverage and expanding this to general (tertiary) hospital care fees in the future. The ruling party also expressed willingness to cooperate, calling it "a welcome development."

Lee said, "I hope the government will take interest so that areas where positions are unified can be quickly formulated into policies and implemented," adding, "Recently, the Financial Supervisory Service also suggested invalidating illegal and high-interest private loans, which has been a long-standing claim and a core policy of the Democratic Party. I ask the government to pay attention and form something like a bipartisan policy council to ensure swift implementation."

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