Kim Sang-hoon: "Additional 10 Trillion Won in Local Currency, Lee Jae-myung's Populism"

People Power Party National Audit Countermeasure Meeting
To Secure Additional Budget for Local Currency
Confirmed Livelihood Support Project Funding Must Be Reduced
Chairman Kim of Policy Committee: "Taking from the Bottom to Support the Top"

Kim Sang-hoon, the Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, criticized the Democratic Party of Korea's claim on the 29th that an additional 10 trillion won worth of local love gift certificates should be issued, calling it "Lee Jae-myung's populist project that does not fit the economic situation and whose actual economic stimulus effect is hard to find." He argued that the total sales of small business owners do not increase, and rather, losses due to incidental costs occur, only exacerbating fiscal deterioration.

Chairman Kim said at the National Assembly's National Audit Countermeasures Meeting held that morning, "Yesterday, the Democratic Party advocated for issuing an additional 10 trillion won in local currency to stimulate the domestic economy using fiscal resources and proposed injecting 2 trillion won from the national treasury for this purpose."

He continued, "With a separate national budget already reflected for issuing 9.9 trillion won worth of local love gift certificates and 5 trillion won worth of Onnuri gift certificates in this year's budget, securing an additional 2 trillion won in national budget as the Democratic Party claims would require reducing the budget for projects that were approved by last year's National Assembly deliberations to support the livelihood economy, creating an inappropriate situation," adding, "It's like taking a stone from the bottom to support the one on top."

Earlier, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that actual tax revenue is expected to fall short by 29.6 trillion won compared to the forecasted tax income this year, and presented countermeasures for a tax revenue shortfall of 14 to 16 trillion won, including up to 6 trillion won from the Foreign Exchange Equalization Fund and 4 trillion won from the Public Fund Management Fund. In response, the Democratic Party argued for the necessity of additional issuance of local currency to revitalize the domestic economy.

Chairman Kim Sang-hoon said, "According to the report, when a total of 9 trillion won worth of local currency is introduced, the total sales of small business owners do not increase, and an annual loss of 226 billion won occurs due to incidental costs," and added, "With the national budget for issuing 9.9 trillion won worth of local love gift certificates and 5 trillion won worth of Onnuri gift certificates already reflected in this year's budget, adding 2 trillion won more would create an inappropriate situation where the budget for projects supporting the livelihood economy must be reduced."

Earlier, as the tax revenue shortfall was projected to reach 29.6 trillion won this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced countermeasures for a tax revenue shortfall of 14 to 16 trillion won, including up to 6 trillion won from the Foreign Exchange Equalization Fund and 4 trillion won from the Public Fund Management Fund. The People Power Party argues that if tax money is used to expand local love gift certificates to solve this, fiscal deterioration will inevitably be difficult to avoid.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Kim said, "If operating profits increase from small and medium-sized enterprises to large corporations, corporate taxes will also increase, and if the economy recovers, the income of self-employed individuals will naturally improve, and furthermore, real estate transactions will become more active," adding, "The Democratic Party should stop issuing unrealistic populist policies and take a more serious approach to budget and bill reviews in the regular National Assembly to revitalize the livelihood economy centered on the people."

Meanwhile, regarding the Democratic Party's announcement to hold an outdoor rally condemning First Lady Kim Geon-hee on the 2nd of next month, he pointed out, "The Democratic Party, which has more than 170 seats capable of doing anything in the National Assembly, is abandoning the National Assembly and going out to the streets, which is incomprehensible."

He continued, "Last week, Lee Jae-myung appeared on a radical YouTube channel targeting the Yoon Seok-yeol government and the prosecution. A soft self-defense coup disguised as legality is underway," emphasizing, "I believe that the behaviors suspected in almost all trials related to Lee Jae-myung, such as perjury coaching, refusal to cooperate with investigations, trial delays, impeachment of prosecutors, and pressure on the judiciary, are themselves an illegal coup disguised as legality."

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