Democrats "Passing Budget Cut by 4 Trillion Won"... Next Year's Budget Negotiations Fail (Comprehensive)

The Ministry of Economy and Finance Held Additional Talks
But Negotiations Collapsed Due to Local Currency Issues

The ruling and opposition parties, along with the government, negotiated on next year's budget bill but failed to reach an agreement. The opposition party decided to process a budget plan that cuts 4.1 trillion won in expenditures compared to the government's original proposal.

On the 10th, negotiations regarding next year's budget took place but ultimately broke down. Accordingly, the budget bill that was unilaterally processed by the opposition party at the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Committee on the 29th of last month is expected to be handled. The government requested an increase of 2.1 trillion won in the Budget and Accounts Special Committee, which the opposition party had cut by 4.1 trillion won from the government's original plan, but the opposition rejected it. The biggest disagreement was over the scale of the local currency budget.

Yonhap News

According to the Democratic Party of Korea's explanation, the Ministry of Economy and Finance requested the restoration of 1.8 trillion won in contingency funds and 300 billion won in national treasury bond interest. Conversely, the Ministry proposed an increase card totaling 900 billion won, including 400 billion won for the local currency budget, 300 billion won for free high school education, and 200 billion won for artificial intelligence (AI) support and renewable energy support.

Kim Sang-hoon, the Policy Committee Chair of the People Power Party, said, "The local currency budget demanded by the Democratic Party was too excessive for the government to accept. The government proposed increasing last year's local currency budget of 300 billion won by 100 billion won, but the Democratic Party did not concede from the 1 trillion won local currency budget."

In addition, the government and ruling party requested the restoration of a 50 billion won budget for the East Sea natural gas drilling project, known as the Great Whale oil field development, but this was not accepted.

Jin Sung-jun, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party, introduced the negotiation progress, saying, "The government only demanded the restoration of the amounts that were cut, without a single word about increasing the livelihood budget. We declared the final breakdown at 11 p.m. last night, but today Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok said he prepared a response to the Democratic Party's demands, so we met again under the mediation of the Speaker of the National Assembly." Jin explained the reason for the breakdown of the budget negotiations, saying, "The Democratic Party maintained the position that if the cut budget is to be restored, the livelihood budget must also be increased accordingly. The Ministry of Economy and Finance did not accept this position."