Oral Agreement to Further Discuss at the March Extraordinary National Assembly
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] After long discussions, the ruling and opposition parties tentatively agreed on the supplementary budget (supplementary budget bill) on the 21st.
Kim Ki-hyun, the floor leader of the People Power Party, held an emergency party meeting in the afternoon and stated, "After various discussions, we have decided to finalize the agreement. The broad direction has been set."
Kim said, "There was a verbal agreement to revise the law on retroactive application of loss compensation in the next March extraordinary session of the National Assembly," adding, "In the March session, we verbally agreed to include tourism travel businesses and performance planning businesses in loss compensation and implement it through legislation." He continued, "We consistently insisted that the compensation rate for retroactive loss compensation should be 100%, but the government and ruling party side rejected it, so we agreed to set it at around 90%, raising it by 10 percentage points."
On the day, the ruling and opposition parties planned to finalize the supplementary budget bill (worth 16.9 trillion won) at the plenary session, which includes ▲ a 90% loss compensation rate and expansion of eligible industries ▲ emergency employment stabilization support funds for special types of workers and freelancers ▲ support for transportation workers such as corporate taxi drivers ▲ expanded support for the culture and arts sector ▲ temporary support of diagnostic kits for vulnerable groups.
Earlier, the Democratic Party of Korea decided to process a revised supplementary budget bill worth a total of 16.9 trillion won even if it had to do so alone. After the meeting, Yoon Ho-jung, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, told reporters, "No agreement was reached between the ruling and opposition parties," adding, "Nevertheless, our party clearly stated that the supplementary budget bill must be processed within today." He added, "If the supplementary budget bill passed by the Budget and Accounts Committee is submitted to the plenary session, the Democratic Party plans to submit a revised bill," and "We will process this revised bill."
However, the ruling and opposition parties postponed the scheduled plenary session from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and held last-minute negotiations. The People Power Party stated that they were able to reach an agreement as some of their demands?retroactive application of loss compensation, expansion of the loss compensation rate from 80% to 100%, and provision of support funds for special types of workers, freelancers, corporate taxi drivers, and charter and route bus drivers?were reflected in this supplementary budget bill. The People Power Party's shift in position to pass the bill at the plenary session is interpreted as being due to the recent rise in public support for the supplementary budget.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
