No: “All special activity expenses for the President’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office are cut”, protesting against the “budget taking hostage” |

The National Assembly’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts continued its last-minute review on the 29th ahead of the deadline for processing next year’s budget (December 2). The Democratic Party of Korea insisted on reducing special activity expenses for the President’s Office, Board of Audit and Inspection, prosecutors, and police, and maintained a hard-line stance, saying, “If an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties is not reached, we will independently handle the opposition party’s reduction plan at the plenary session on the 2nd.” The People Power Party responded to the Democratic Party’s threat to handle the budget reduction plan, calling it a “budget hostage situation” and “the National Assembly of the Tang Dynasty.”

The secretaries of the ruling and opposition parties of the Budget and Budget Committee continued negotiations by postponing the Budget and Coordination Subcommittee meeting on this day, but were unable to reach an agreement. The Democratic Party is also considering making and passing its own amendment to reduce special activity expenses for powerful organizations at the plenary meeting of the Budget and Accounts Committee on this day. Under the Constitution, the National Assembly cannot increase the budget without the consent of the government. The Democratic Party plans to push for a cut in special activity expenses, even if it means giving up the increase it wants. If the Democratic Party passes the budget reduction bill at the Budget and Accounts Committee alone as the opposition party, it will be the first time since 1987.

A key Democratic Party official said, “Each standing committee and the Budget and Budget Committee have completed a sufficient review for one month,” and added, “We will reduce the budget if the justification is not sufficient or is not necessary.” An official from the Democratic Party’s Budget and Accounts Committee also said, “The government has consistently said, ‘You just have to endure it,’ and we will use this as an opportunity to straighten out the broken budget deliberation authority.”

The Democratic Party has been cutting the entire budget for various special activities under the leadership of the opposition party since the preliminary review stage of the standing committee. The National Assembly Steering Committee passed a total reduction of 8.251 billion won in special activity expenses under the Office of the President. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee completely reduced the prosecution’s special activity expenses of 8.09 billion won and the Prosecutor’s Office’s specific business expenses of 50.691 billion won, and also reduced the special activity expenses of the Board of Audit and Inspection by 1.519 billion won and special security expenses of 4.519 billion won. The Public Administration and Security Commission completely reduced police special activity expenses worth 3.167 billion won.

Additional adjustments are being made to the budget for key government projects such as the ‘Blue Whale Project’ and Seoul Yongsan Park. In the case of the Blue Whale Project, KRW 5.056 billion out of the total budget of KRW 50.557 billion was cut by agreement between the ruling and opposition parties at the Trade, Industry, Energy, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee, but during the sub-committee discussion at the Budget and Budget Committee, an opinion was raised to reduce the total amount. The 41.66 billion won project cost for Yongsan Park in Seoul has already been reduced by 22.98 billion won by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Commission, and it is reported that the Budget and Accounts Committee has proposed an additional reduction.

The People Power Party’s position is that it cannot accept the Democratic Party’s reduction plan. A People Power Party member of the Budget and Accounts Committee criticized, “The Democratic Party is demanding a full reduction in special activity expenses,” and asked, “Are they really thinking about the people’s livelihood?”

The ruling party plans to continue negotiations with the goal of processing the budget by the 10th of next month, when the regular National Assembly ends. The Democratic Party’s decision to give up the budget increase plan and only proceed with the reduction plan is viewed as a “pressure card that is not realistic.” This is because if the increased budget is abandoned, opposition party members will have to bear the political burden of not being able to secure local budgets. An official from the People Power Party predicted, “Last year, it was processed well past the legal deadline,” and added, “Currently, it is a process of putting pressure on the leaders of both parties until they finally go to the table and negotiate.”