Park Hong-geun, Floor Leader: "The Supplementary Budget Should Be Passed Quickly... We Will Persuade and Pressure the Government"

Park Hong-geun, the newly appointed floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Park Hong-geun, the newly appointed floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 27th, "The principle that the supplementary budget should be as fast as possible and fully compensated remains unwavering," adding, "We will persuade and pressure the government."

Park, in a meeting with reporters at the National Assembly in the afternoon, responded this way to questions regarding the formulation of the second supplementary budget (추경) for COVID-19 loss compensation.

Regarding the government's passive stance on the second supplementary budget formulation, he said, "As far as I know, there has been no case of supplementary budget formulation during the transition committee period," adding, "There is a problem that the design and responsibility for the formulation are ambiguous."

He also commented on President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol's pledge to secure supplementary budget funds through expenditure adjustments, saying, "Since the fiscal year has just completed its first quarter, we need to consider the difficulties faced by the financial authorities, as large-scale expenditure structure adjustments are not easy."

He continued, "The government is supposed to submit the budget to the National Assembly, but when the government is passive and negative, the current role of the National Assembly is to figure out how to persuade and pressure them."

He stated, "There must be the will of government authorities such as the Blue House and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and there must be alternatives for securing funds. It is possible only when urgency and strong will for supplementary budget formulation, as well as efforts to persuade the government, are supported beyond party lines," adding, "From our standpoint, we will persuade and pressure the government."

Regarding the schedule of the extraordinary session of the National Assembly, Park said, "We need to discuss soon how to handle the remaining legislative schedule for the March session and the April session," adding, "Even during the power transition period, we cannot remain empty-handed."

On the introduction of the 'multi-member constituency system with three or more basic councilors,' he said, "It has been submitted to the subcommittee of the Political Reform Special Committee, but the People Power Party is negative and lukewarm, so we need to assess how much persuasion is possible," adding, "However, this time, we must see results as a fulfillment of the political promises to the public."

He also explained, "Regarding livelihood-related issues and real estate taxation, we need to hold related standing committee meetings or party caucuses to unify opinions within the party," adding, "Based on that, negotiations with the People Power Party or the start of deliberations at the National Assembly level should begin."