Disaster Relief Fund Announced as "Will Be Paid" a Month Ago... Will Details Emerge Next Week?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

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[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Nearly a month after the government announced the payment of emergency disaster relief funds in response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), there are prospects that the related supplementary budget bill may face difficulties passing through the National Assembly within this month. This is due to the ruling and opposition parties failing to narrow their differences over how to cover the additional budget required after expanding the 'payment target' from the bottom 70% income group to the entire population following the general election. If the bill does not pass the National Assembly, the schedule mentioned by the Blue House?'cash payments to basic livelihood security recipients on May 4 and payments to the general public on May 13'?is likely to be delayed.

According to government and National Assembly officials on the 26th, the revised supplementary budget bill for the nationwide payment of emergency disaster relief funds has not yet been submitted to the National Assembly. However, on the 24th, Koo Yoon-cheol, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, verbally reported and submitted a written document to Kim Jae-won, chairman of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Special Committee, regarding the revision based on the ruling party and government's agreed 'nationwide payment followed by donation recovery' plan.

According to the report, the government and ruling party agreed to expand the disaster relief fund payment target from 14.78 million households in the bottom 70% income bracket, initially announced on the 30th of last month, to all citizens, totaling 21.71 million households. In this case, the required budget increases from 9.7 trillion won to 14.3 trillion won. The original 9.7 trillion won was planned as 7.6 trillion won from the central government and 2.1 trillion won from local governments, but under the expansion plan, the budget will be raised by issuing government bonds, increasing the central government portion by 3.6 trillion won and local government portion by 1 trillion won each. The payment amounts remain the same as before: 400,000 won for single-person households, 600,000 won for two-person households, 800,000 won for three-person households, and 1 million won for households of four or more. Regarding the 'donation recovery' proposed to reduce the government's financial burden, the opposition party appears to have accepted the point that the scale of donations cannot be predicted. Since donations are made voluntarily by the public, the expansion plan does not preemptively exclude this from the budget.

The most contentious issue between the ruling and opposition parties currently is the 'budget.' The opposition party, the United Future Party, has stated that it will only begin reviewing the supplementary budget bill after the submission of a special law to provide legal grounds for the expansion plan and after consultations with local governments regarding the increased local government budget portion (1 trillion won).

However, if local governments do not consent during this process, the opposition has taken a very negative stance on the idea of converting this to central government funds. On the 25th, Chairman Kim criticized on his Facebook, "When I asked to get consent from local governments because they were to bear an additional 1 trillion won, there were reports that the government would bear the entire amount as central government funds as if doing a favor," adding, "These government people seem to be addicted to borrowing and spending. Are they about to throw a debt party?" He further stated, "Every year, leftover government funds amount to several to tens of trillions of won, and due to the COVID-19 situation, unspent funds have increased tremendously," and criticized, "I naturally thought that the 1 trillion won would be borne through budget item adjustments, but issuing an additional 1 trillion won in government bonds is like 'a blind man killing his own chicken.'"

On the first weekend after the easing of social distancing measures, on the 26th, worshippers are heading to the main sanctuary at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul to attend service. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

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Given this situation, it is difficult to even schedule the standing committee or plenary session to discuss the supplementary budget bill. The Democratic Party aims to submit the bill to the plenary session on the 29th, and the Blue House has also stated that, based on this, payments to 2.7 million households including basic livelihood security recipients could start from May 4, and payments to the remaining citizens from May 13. However, this schedule is impossible to implement if the supplementary budget bill is not reviewed and passed by the National Assembly. Moreover, with the upcoming consecutive holidays from Buddha's Birthday on the 30th to Children's Day on the 5th of next month, and the United Future Party suffering internal strife after the general election defeat, it is uncertain whether they can meet the quorum in the standing committee.

Within the ruling party, there are opinions that the president should invoke the emergency financial command authority to ensure swift execution. The emergency financial command authority can be invoked in cases of internal or external war, natural disasters, or serious financial or economic crises when urgent measures are needed and the National Assembly is either adjourned or in recess, making it impossible to wait for its convening. Prior approval from the National Assembly is not required, but post-approval must be obtained. If approval is not granted, the authority loses its effect. Therefore, there are concerns that invoking the president's emergency financial command authority could lead to greater conflicts and controversies later on.

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