Park Hong-geun "If the Party-Government Position Does Not Change, a Sole Amendment to the Budget Bill Will Be Submitted"
[Asia Economy Reporters Juyoun Oh, Juni Park, Hyunji Kwon] On the last day of the regular National Assembly session, the 9th, the Democratic Party of Korea decided to hold a vote on the motion to dismiss Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min in the plenary session. The People Power Party has set the agreement on next year’s budget as a precondition, but the Democratic Party insists that ‘budget’ and ‘accountability’ are separate issues, reaffirming their determination to push through the motion, making negotiations on next year’s budget even more difficult. If the ruling and opposition parties fail to reach an agreement on the budget before the plenary session in the afternoon, there is a possibility that the Democratic Party’s amendment focusing on budget cuts will be passed unilaterally, or that the matter will be passed on to the extraordinary session scheduled for the 10th, leaving the year-end budget negotiations in uncertainty until the last moment.
Park Hong-geun, the floor leader of the Democratic Party, said at the morning Supreme Council meeting, "Today is the last plenary session of the regular National Assembly," and added, "We must handle the motion to dismiss Minister Lee Sang-min as promised."
Floor leader Park stated, "If we leave Minister Lee, who is the person in charge, as he is, it will be difficult to properly investigate the facts and hold those responsible accountable," and emphasized, "President Yoon Seok-yeol should respect the National Assembly’s motion to dismiss, which is constitutionally granted, following the people’s command this time." If the plenary session is held at 2 p.m. and the motion to dismiss Minister Lee is put on the agenda and voted on, the Democratic Party, with 169 members, exceeds the majority of the total members (151) required for approval, so they can pass the motion to dismiss on their own. The Democratic Party submitted the motion to dismiss Minister Lee to the National Assembly Secretariat with all members’ signatures on the 30th of last month.
If the motion to dismiss is passed solely by the Democratic Party, there is a high likelihood that budget negotiations will break down. Aware of this, the Democratic Party repeatedly warned the People Power Party not to link the handling of next year’s budget with the confrontation over the motion. Floor leader Park pressured again, saying, "The ruling party should abandon the trick of linking the motion to dismiss Minister Lee with the budget and follow the solemn demands of the bereaved families and the public."
The Democratic Party stated that if no agreement on next year’s budget is reached before the plenary session in the afternoon, they will push through their amendment focusing on budget cuts. Floor leader Park criticized, "The attitude of the government and ruling party during the budget review and negotiation process has been nothing but stalling and protecting President Yoon’s interests," adding, "It breaks the parliamentary tradition of handling the budget within the regular session at the latest."
Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, is attending the party floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
On the other hand, the People Power Party still insists on ‘processing the budget first,’ maintaining a stalemate. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the People Power Party, said at the morning floor strategy meeting, "We have negotiated with the opposition several times, but there are still several important points left, so I am worried whether an agreement can be reached today."
The biggest gap is the ‘corporate tax cut.’ The Democratic Party opposes the corporate tax cut, viewing it as a ‘super-rich tax cut,’ but the People Power Party pointed out that they should at least accept the Speaker’s mediation proposal.
Floor leader Joo said, "Kim Jin-pyo, the Speaker of the National Assembly from our party, proposed a mediation plan regarding the corporate tax cut," and added, "The mediation plan is to pass the government’s proposal to reduce the corporate tax from the current 25% to 22%, but to postpone its implementation for two years. It is a very good mediation plan, but even this is not readily accepted by the Democratic Party." He further pressured, saying, "In the context of the global semiconductor supply chain restructuring, the corporate tax cut is directly linked to the competitiveness of the entire country."
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