Joo Ho-young: "Democrats Cut Budget, Miss Deadline... Will Actively Negotiate Within 9 Days"

"Democratic Party's Attitude as Election Refusal... Still Acting Like During Moon Administration"
"Demand for Lee Sang-min's Dismissal Seems Like Intentional Breach of National Audit Agreement"
If No Coordination by 5th, Floor Leader to Intervene

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Hyun-ji] Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, blamed the Democratic Party of Korea for the delay in passing next year's budget bill beyond the legal deadline on the 2nd. He stated that negotiations with the Democratic Party would continue to pass the budget bill by the end of the regular session on the 9th of this month.

After a meeting of floor leaders of both parties chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly on the same day, Floor Leader Joo held a press conference, saying, "Amid the global economic crisis making our economy very difficult, the People Power Party has done its best to promptly pass next year's budget to expedite economic and livelihood recovery even by a day," adding, "However, it was impossible to meet the deadline because the Democratic Party, using its majority seats in the National Assembly, recklessly slashed the government budget."

He also criticized the Democratic Party's attitude toward next year's government budget bill, summarizing it as "refusal to accept the presidential election results," saying, "Although the Yoon Seok-yeol government was newly launched according to the people's will, the Democratic Party does not acknowledge this and still acts as if the Moon Jae-in administration is in power." He pointed out, "While the core projects of the new government were either fully or significantly cut, the budgets related to the failed policies of the Moon Jae-in administration or the populist policies of Representative Lee Jae-myung were unilaterally increased."

He repeatedly raised issues regarding the Democratic Party's push for a motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min. He said, "The Democratic Party suddenly began demanding the dismissal of Minister Lee even before the ink on the agreement for the national audit had dried, and eventually brought up motions for dismissal and impeachment," adding, "This can only be interpreted as an intention to deliberately break the agreement on the national audit."

The scheduled plenary session of the National Assembly on the day was not convened due to unresolved disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties over the budget bill and the motion to dismiss Minister Lee, with Speaker Kim Jin-pyo refusing to open the session. Instead, Speaker Kim announced that plenary sessions would be held on the 8th and 9th to handle next year's budget bill and other agenda items.

Regarding this, Floor Leader Joo explained, "Through the budget and accounts special committee secretaries and the policy committee chairs of both parties, we agreed to hold meetings to coordinate opinions as much as possible during the remaining period," adding, "If coordination is not achieved by a certain point in time, the floor leaders will actively negotiate and intervene to pass the budget bill by the end of the regular session on the 9th." The certain point in time mentioned by Floor Leader Joo is the 5th. He emphasized, "Despite the Democratic Party's refusal to accept the presidential election results and their tactics, the People Power Party will do its best to pass the budget bill before the regular session ends on the 9th."