Opposition Senior Members Criticize Budget Agreement... "We Have Essentially Allowed National Debt Increase"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Lee Ji-eun and Lim Chun-han] On the 2nd, senior members of the People Power Party criticized the 2021 budget bill, scheduled to pass the plenary session, saying, "We have effectively allowed the increase in national debt."

On the 2nd, at an emergency countermeasure committee and senior lawmakers joint meeting held at the National Assembly, People Power Party lawmaker Seo Byung-soo said, "Looking at the results of the budget agreement, I wonder if our people will truly understand the People Power Party."

He pointed out, "The total budget size agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties is 558 trillion won, which is more than the originally submitted government budget (556 trillion won) and 44 trillion won more than the 2020 budget. This is a budget for debt-driven growth under the Moon administration and can be called a future exploitation budget, yet during the National Assembly review process, it was increased by 2 trillion won."

Lawmaker Seo criticized, "It is the first time in 11 years that the National Assembly has increased the government budget, and moreover, the net increase of 2.2 trillion won this time will be covered by government bond issuance, so we have effectively allowed the increase in national debt."

He expressed concern, saying, "The attitude of 'it can't be helped' or 'this much is enough' may make the party appear to the public as being stuck in mannerism. If this continues, I worry whether we can gain the trust of the people in next year's by-elections and the presidential election the year after."

Lawmaker Hong Moon-pyo also pointed out, "In conclusion, this government is indiscriminately imposing a tax bomb, and I am worried that our People Power Party might become a party that condones this," adding, "Yesterday, we passed it as a whole."

He criticized, "The original strategy and focus is to pass the budget only if about 60% of the policies or proposals from each party or lawmakers are reflected at minimum," and added, "Given that we passed it as a whole, there is no justification to argue over details now. Ultimately, the issue is how we will smoothly handle this problem, which will be passed on to the people through taxes."

Lawmaker Hong added, "The Democratic Party of Korea is probably putting up banners today in each region anticipating the budget's passage," and said, "We also need to have countermeasures for this."