Park Hong-geun "The government and ruling party are the ones fussing about provisional budgets before the budget review"

"Government and Ruling Party Must Reflect Opposition Voices to Prevent Semi-Budget Crisis"

Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly on the 17th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, sharply criticized on the 17th, "Where in the world are the government and ruling party that fuss about a provisional budget before the full review of the budget bill begins?"

At the Democratic Party policy coordination meeting held at the National Assembly that day, Floor Leader Park introduced, "From today, the Budget and Accounts Committee's adjustment subcommittee will hold detailed reviews of next year's budget bill," and pointed out, "The form shown by the government and ruling party is unbearable to witness."

He said, "The Presidential Office said it was reviewing an emergency plan considering a provisional budget before the National Assembly's budget review, and the ruling party's policy committee chairman also roughly mentioned the provisional budget, acting according to the Presidential Office's script," adding, "Mentioning the provisional budget to shift responsibility to the opposition with a majority of seats without making efforts to process the budget bill is irresponsible."

Floor Leader Park stated, "It means they do not recognize the National Assembly's constitutional right to review the budget and intend to continue operations with arrogance and self-righteousness," and added, "The role of the government and ruling party is to proactively ensure that the budget is processed within the legal deadline so that a provisional budget situation does not occur, reflecting the legitimate voices of the opposition." He continued, "In order to protect the lives of the people, we will approach the budget review with the spirit that there is no ruling or opposition party," and urged, "The People Power Party, as the ruling party, should not be swayed by the Presidential Office but join in significantly increasing the livelihood budget demanded by the opposition, blocking tax cuts for the ultra-rich, and cutting wasteful spending of taxpayers' money."