Minister of the Interior and Safety: "Difficult to Accept Local Currency Act... Will Recommend Reconsideration" (Update)

Local Currency Act Amendment Passed in Plenary Session Led by Opposition
Minister Lee Sang-min Issues Direct Briefing Expressing Regret
"Damage to Local Autonomy and Infringement of Government's Exclusive Authority"

The government announced on the 19th that it is "difficult to accept the bill" regarding the amendment to the Local Currency Act (Act on the Promotion of Local Love Gift Certificates), which was passed by the National Assembly plenary session led by the opposition party, and stated that it will "recommend a request for reconsideration."

Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office in the afternoon regarding the partial amendment bill on the Act on the Promotion of Local Love Gift Certificates, expressing "deep regret as the minister in charge over the bill being unilaterally processed" and pointed out issues with the bill.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min is briefing on the partial amendment to the "Act on the Promotion of Local Love Gift Certificates," which passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 19th, at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Ministry of the Interior and Safety]

Earlier, the National Assembly passed the Local Currency Act, which mandates government administrative and financial support for local love gift certificates. The bill was approved with 166 votes in favor and 3 against out of 169 members present. The ruling party, People Power Party, boycotted the vote in protest against the opposition party's unilateral submission of the bill.

The Local Currency Act primarily requires the government to provide financial support necessary for local governments to issue, sell, and redeem local love gift certificates. The Democratic Party, viewing it as a "policy for ordinary citizens and self-employed people suffering from high inflation and high interest rates," promoted the bill as party policy, building on the signage project led by Lee Jae-myung during his tenure as a local government head. On the other hand, the People Power Party opposed it, arguing that it is effectively "institutionalizing a 250,000 KRW support law for all citizens."

Minister Lee also criticized the bill on the day, stating that it "undermines the foundation of the local autonomy system." Issuance and operation of local love gift certificates are autonomous tasks decided and carried out by local government heads themselves, but the bill mandates the state to provide administrative and financial support for these autonomous tasks. In other words, it violates the principles of task allocation between the state and autonomous tasks regulated by the Local Autonomy Act and the Local Finance Act, as well as the principle that local governments bear the costs of autonomous tasks.

He also argued that the bill infringes on the government's inherent budget formulation authority as stipulated by the Constitution. The Constitution requires the National Assembly to obtain the government's consent when increasing the budget or establishing new budget items, but the bill imposes an obligation on the government to provide financial support simply by its enforcement. Minister Lee added, "This infringes on the budget formulation authority under the Constitution and has a very high possibility of violating the principle of separation of powers."

He raised concerns about accelerating the "rich get richer, poor get poorer" phenomenon between special/metropolitan cities and marginalized areas. Minister Lee said, "If the bill is enforced, local governments with sufficient financial capacity will apply for large budgets, and the government will inevitably provide a lot of national funds to wealthy local governments," adding, "If all local governments nationwide issue the certificates uniformly, capital outflow from marginalized areas will worsen, and the concentration of funds in large cities or central areas will accelerate local extinction."

Minister Lee emphasized that he will recommend President Yoon Seok-yeol to request reconsideration. The People Power Party also announced that it will recommend President Yoon to exercise the veto power. After a party meeting, Floor Leader Choo Kyung-ho said, "Because these bills, including the unconstitutional and excessive special investigation bills, were forcibly passed by the Democratic Party's unilateral push, we strongly urge the President to exercise the right to request reconsideration (veto)." He continued, "The Democratic Party pushed these bills unilaterally from the standing committee stage and forcibly passed them. Even the agenda schedule brought to the plenary session was unilaterally accepted by the Speaker of the National Assembly because the Democratic Party strongly demanded it, so we could not participate," he pointed out.