Ruling and Opposition Parties Propose 3.4 Trillion Won Increase for Reserve Funds and Local Currency

Kim Sang-hoon "Cut Reserve Funds at 2014 Level"
'Unable to Respond to Unexpected Situations' Criticism

On the 10th, the People Power Party proposed to re-increase 3.4 trillion won, including contingency funds for disaster countermeasures, out of the 4.1 trillion won budget cut by the Democratic Party of Korea from the 2025 budget. For negotiations, the People Power Party also included the 300 billion won budget for local love gift certificates requested by Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, in the increase proposal.

Kim Sang-hoon, the chairman of the People Power Party's Policy Committee, held a press conference at the National Assembly in the afternoon and announced this budget proposal, saying, "Next year's budget must be processed through bipartisan agreement to revive the people's economy," and then entered negotiations with the Democratic Party.

He proposed restoring a total of 1.6 trillion won, including 1.5 trillion won in contingency funds for disaster countermeasures, 50 billion won for expenses related to investigations infringing on people's livelihoods, and 50 billion won for oil field development budgets.

Additionally, he presented 1.5 trillion won for budgets to revitalize the economy such as for socially vulnerable groups including the livelihood, safety, and farmers and fishermen, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as 300 billion won for the issuance of local love gift certificates requested by the Democratic Party, totaling 1.8 trillion won.

Kim Sang-hoon, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Regarding the Democratic Party's claim that there is no problem even if the unilateral reduction plan passes, Chairman Kim pointed out, "In the case of contingency funds, they were drastically cut to about half, returning to the 2014 level," adding, "Considering inflation, it will be impossible to respond when unexpected situations arise in people's livelihoods such as disasters, epidemics, uncertainties due to the inauguration of the Trump administration, and insufficient mandatory spending in the welfare sector."

Regarding special activity expenses and specific task expenses, he explained, "Everyone knows well that if investigation expenses are completely cut, investigations into drug, deepfake, sex crimes, and fraud cases will be disrupted, threatening public safety."

Furthermore, Chairman Kim explained, "By re-increasing 3.4 trillion won from the 4.1 trillion won budget unilaterally cut by the Democratic Party earlier, next year's budget will have a total net cut of 700 billion won from the budget submitted by the government."

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