Yongsan: "Labor Costs Significantly Reduced Compared to Moon Administration... Debt Increased More Under Previous Government"

"Significant Reduction in Personnel and Operating Costs of the Presidential Secretariat"
"National Debt Increased by Over 400 Trillion Won During Previous Administration"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office rebutted opposition party claims that personnel expenses executed by the Presidential Office and the Presidential Security Service last year exceeded 100 billion won, marking the highest level in 10 years, stating, "Currently, the personnel and operating expenses of the Presidential Secretariat are being executed with significant reductions."

A Presidential Office official said on the afternoon of the 26th at the Yongsan Presidential Office during a meeting with reporters, "Especially compared to the previous administration, expenses have been drastically reduced."

The official explained, "The current personnel expenses of the Presidential Secretariat amount to about 39 billion won as of 2023, which is an 8% decrease compared to 43.1 billion won in 2021, and it is even less than during the Moon Jae-in administration."

He added, "Regarding the increase in personnel expenses for the Security Service, it is due to the phased reinforcement of protective personnel following the abolition of the compulsory police decided by the Moon Jae-in government in 2018."

Earlier, Assemblyman Cha Gyu-geun of the Innovation Party, a member of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Special Committee, revealed through data submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance that the actual personnel expenses executed by the Presidential Office and the Presidential Security Service last year amounted to 100.754 billion won.

This represents an approximately 51% increase compared to 66.565 billion won in 2014 and about a 6.8% increase compared to 2022, the first year of President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration.

Assemblyman Cha criticized, "Contrary to the pledge to streamline the organization and reorganize it into a strategic organization, the expansion of the Yongsan Presidential Office has been proven."

Meanwhile, the Presidential Office also explained regarding the national debt and household debt exceeding 3,000 trillion won that "the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is carefully managing the household debt ratio relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."

A Presidential Office official pointed out, "In terms of national debt, the absolute scale is currently expected to be 1,196 trillion won, but it was 660 trillion won until the Park Geun-hye administration," adding, "It increased by more than 400 trillion won during the previous administration."

He continued, "Since the Yoon Suk-yeol administration began, the increase is only about 12 trillion won based on this year's estimates," and said, "The opposition party attacks claiming that household debt has increased significantly under the current administration, so we had no choice but to make this comparison."