Democrats: "Korean Economy on the Brink... 35 Trillion Won Supplementary Budget Needed for Livelihood and Economy"

Livelihood Recovery Consumption Coupons and Expanded AI Investment
"Urging the Government and Ruling Party to Swiftly Prepare a Supplementary Budget"

The Democratic Party proposed an additional supplementary budget (supplementary budget) worth 35 trillion won for restoring people’s livelihoods and economic growth. They requested an increase in expenditures of 24 trillion won for revitalizing domestic demand, including the issuance of livelihood recovery consumption coupons, and 11 trillion won for economic growth, such as expanding investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.

Jin Seong-jun, chairman of the Democratic Party Policy Committee, and Heo Young, head of the Livelihood Economy Recovery Team, held a press briefing at the National Assembly on the 13th to present this supplementary budget plan. Chairman Jin said, “Our economy is literally at a 'precarious moment,' with the political instability continuing since the declaration of emergency martial law on December 3rd. The economic situation in South Korea is deteriorating to the worst, with rising exchange rates, shrinking consumption, falling stock prices, and increasing import prices.”

He emphasized the necessity of the supplementary budget by dividing it into livelihood recovery and economic growth parts. First, among the 35 trillion won supplementary budget, an increase in expenditures of 24 trillion won was proposed for livelihood recovery. Chairman Jin said, "To revive the rapidly freezing domestic demand, we propose four major consumption stimulation packages: livelihood recovery consumption coupons, win-win consumption cashback, consumption vouchers in eight sectors, and support for discounts on local currency.” He explained, “The livelihood recovery consumption coupon is a 13 trillion won project that provides 250,000 won per person and an additional 100,000 won per person in local currency to basic livelihood security recipients, low-income households, and single-parent families.”

Jinseongjun, the Policy Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding a policy issue press briefing at the National Assembly on the 6th. 2025.2.6. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

The win-win consumption cashback is a 2.4 trillion won project that provides a 10% cashback on the amount of consumption where the total personal card expenditure, excluding department stores, large marts, online shopping malls, and entertainment establishments, increases by more than 3% compared to the same period last year on a monthly basis. Additionally, the consumption voucher project in eight sectors allocates 500 billion won in discount coupons for eight sectors: accommodation, tourism, performances, movies, exhibitions, sports, dining out, and agricultural and marine products. The local currency issuance support is a project that supports 10% discount costs for local currency issuance amounting to 20 trillion won issued by local governments, and a budget of 2 trillion won was proposed.

A total of 11 trillion won was allocated for economic growth. Chairman Jin said, “We expect 1.1 trillion won to be required for public housing and social overhead capital (SOC) investment, and 500 billion won for youth and other job and startup support budgets.” He explained, “5 trillion won is needed for active investments preparing for the future, such as expanding AI and semiconductor investments, increasing basic and applied research and development (R&D) budgets, and high value-added R&D in the petroleum, chemical, and steel industries.”

Furthermore, he said, “800 billion won is needed for expanding power grid and renewable energy support to respond to RE100, 1 trillion won for climate crisis responses such as expanding electric vehicle support (from 3 million to 4 million won) and activating green remodeling,” and "1.2 trillion won is proposed for future-oriented support such as free high school education and free childcare for 5-year-olds.” An additional 2.6 trillion won was also proposed to strengthen local finances to promote local government investments.

Chairman Jin said, “The Democratic Party is proposing the supplementary budget not to insist on specific items but to revive people’s livelihoods and the economy as a public party,” urging the government and ruling party to promptly prepare the supplementary budget.

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