"Local Currency Act Is a Debt Feast Law for Future Generations"
"What Is the Meaning of Common Pledge Negotiations?"
The People Power Party argued that if the opposition forcibly passes the Local Currency Act (Amendment to the Act on the Promotion of Local Love Gift Certificates) in the National Assembly plenary session, the president should exercise the right to request reconsideration (veto power).
Chu Kyung-ho, floor leader of the People Power Party, is speaking at the party's strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
On the 6th, Kim Sang-hoon, the policy chief of the People Power Party, said at a floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly, "I think the Local Currency Act is a debt feast law for future generations." He added, "As the Korea Institute of Public Finance has revealed, in a situation where a huge tax revenue shortfall is expected this year, if national subsidies for local currency become mandatory, the national fiscal burden will inevitably increase to an unmanageable level." He also pointed out, "In particular, I believe one of the reasons the Local Currency Act should not be promoted is the corruption and preferential treatment allegations related to Kona I, the operator of Gyeonggi Province's local currency, which continued while Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, served as governor of Gyeonggi Province."
Kim, the policy chief, said, "Whether it is the 250,000 won support law for all citizens or the Local Currency Act, the essence is ultimately cash handout populism." He added, "It is a law that should never be enacted, where the parent generation borrows tens of trillions of won in debt to spend small amounts of money immediately and then tells their children to repay it."
The Democratic Party forcibly passed the Local Currency Act at the full meeting of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee the day before, despite opposition from ruling party members. The Democratic Party plans to pass the Local Currency Act, which was decided as a party policy, at the plenary session before Chuseok. Due to the Democratic Party's forcible passage of the Local Currency Act, the scheduled meeting between the policy chiefs of both parties that morning was also canceled.
In response, Kim, the policy chief, said, "While preparing a consultative body to promote common livelihood pledges as a follow-up measure to the ruling and opposition leaders' meeting, as the policy chief of the party, I deeply regret the Democratic Party's legislative rampage." He emphasized, "What meaning would there be in discussing common pledges as if nothing happened when the Democratic Party's legislative rampage recurs before the ink on the joint statement of the ruling party leader and the leader of the first opposition party has even dried?"
After the meeting, Choo Kyung-ho, the floor leader of the People Power Party, responded to reporters' questions about whether the cancellation of the meeting between the policy chiefs of both parties would negatively affect the atmosphere of cooperation by saying, "The National Assembly's task and destiny is to cooperate through dialogue and negotiation. I will do my best to create such a flow by constantly engaging in dialogue with the opposition."
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