Choi Sang-mok: "An unprecedented single reduction plan in constitutional history... Opposition parties must engage in negotiations"

Opposition Party's Unilateral Budget Bill Passage Leads to Government Briefing
"Opposition's Reduced Budget is Flawed... Requires Bipartisan Agreement"

Last week, when the opposition party unilaterally passed a reduced budget bill at the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee, the government expressed criticism on the 2nd as the opposition announced its intention to pass it in the plenary session. The government urged the opposition to withdraw this action, stating that the opposition's budget handling would exacerbate economic risks amid external uncertainties, and called for sincere negotiations.

Choe Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Economy and Finance, is announcing the government's position, including issues with the opposition party's unilateral budget reduction proposal, on the 2nd at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Attending the joint briefing were Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety; Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare; Oh Young-joo, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups; and Bang Ki-moon, Director of the National Coordination Office.

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, held a briefing at the Government Seoul Office regarding the opposition's unilateral budget cuts and announced the joint stance of government ministries. The briefing was attended by Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, Oh Young-joo, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and Bang Ki-seon, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

At the briefing, Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "The world is in a silent war, but the major opposition party is only focused on political strife, holding the budget hostage and refusing to provide the desperately needed bullets to our companies." He added, "As the minister responsible for the national budget, I express deep regret over the opposition's irresponsible unilateral handling."

Deputy Prime Minister Choi criticized the opposition's reduced budget bill, saying it "will further increase risks to our economy, which is in a more severe situation than ever due to external uncertainties." He emphasized, "While the people need to unite to respond to this economic crisis, the opposition is recklessly pushing through a reduced budget bill. The damage will directly affect our citizens and companies." He further explained, "This reduces our capacity to respond to domestic and international adversities, amplifies uncertainties, undermines trust in our fiscal management capabilities, and could damage the nation's creditworthiness."

Deputy Prime Minister Choi also explained, "We will miss the golden time to enhance industrial competitiveness amid intensifying global industrial competition." He stated, "The opposition's unilateral reduced budget cuts government budgets for creating an industrial ecosystem, such as the Innovation Growth Fund, and slashes 77.9 billion KRW from future growth engine R&D, including government-funded research institutes, basic research, quantum technology, and semiconductors." He also mentioned, "The contingency fund was cut to 2.4 trillion KRW, about half of the previous level." According to him, this would make timely responses difficult even if urgent industrial or trade changes occur.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "Last month, the government launched the Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness and promised active fiscal support to expand essential infrastructure such as power grids for semiconductor clusters and AI computing infrastructure." However, he added, "If the opposition passes the unilateral reduced budget bill, this promise cannot be kept." He also criticized, "The tax law amendment bill that the opposition intends to pass unilaterally in the plenary session excludes expanded tax support for national strategic technologies such as semiconductors and AI, which had been tentatively agreed upon by both ruling and opposition parties and the government, as well as measures to reduce burdens on small business owners and revitalize domestic demand."

He emphasized that "government support plans for people's livelihoods and regional economies will inevitably face setbacks." Deputy Prime Minister Choi said, "The opposition cut representative projects aimed at improving social mobility, such as the Youth Leap Account and university student work scholarships." He mentioned, "Budgets closely related to citizens' lives, such as childcare and medical reform, were also reduced, and expenses for confidential investigations into drug crimes and deepfake crimes were cut by 100%, raising concerns about crime response." He stressed, "Additional support for small business owners and reinforcement of regional economic revitalization projects will also become impossible."

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance (front row, left), Lee Sang-min, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, Oh Young-joo, Minister of SMEs and Startups, and Bang Ki-sun, Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, are entering the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 2nd to announce the government's position on issues such as the opposition party's sole budget reduction proposal.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated, "The opposition's reduced budget bill is a sloppy budget that cuts 500 billion KRW from national bond interest costs without providing any basis, disables budgets for disaster and trade risk responses, ignores budgets for people's livelihoods and regional economies, and causes the loss of timely recovery opportunities for industrial competitiveness." He explained, "Since the finalization of the national budget is a significant decision that greatly affects citizens' lives, the national economy as a whole, and every region across the country, it is a desirable budget decision process that should be made through bipartisan agreement."

Deputy Prime Minister Choi continued, "The economy does not operate on its own, and livelihoods do not recover for free," emphasizing, "The growing external uncertainties are difficult to handle even if the public and private sectors and both ruling and opposition parties work together, and time is not on our side." He added, "We urge the opposition to withdraw the unprecedented unilateral reduced budget bill and engage in sincere negotiations even now."