Presiding Over Temporary Cabinet Meeting
Urges National Assembly for Swift Passage
Prime Minister and Acting President Han Duck-soo announced on the 18th that the government has prepared a supplementary budget bill worth 12.2 trillion won, stating, "The government has prepared the supplementary budget focusing on tasks without disagreement by fully reflecting the opinions of the National Assembly, and plans to submit it to the National Assembly early next week after today's Cabinet meeting deliberation."
Acting President Han, who presided over the temporary Cabinet meeting at the Government Seoul Office that day, said, "To avoid missing the golden time for urgent policies, it is extremely important that precious catalysts for livelihood and economic recovery are timely deployed to the field," and added, "Without any political considerations, I earnestly ask the National Assembly to discuss magnanimously and promptly process this, thinking only of the people and the national economy."
Acting President Han explained, "To resolve urgent issues facing South Korea, such as the worst-ever wildfire damage and the US-imposed tariffs that have shocked the entire industry, the government has prepared a supplementary budget bill worth a total of 12.2 trillion won, focusing on highly tangible projects that meet field demands."
He continued, "To protect the lives and property of the people from large-scale disasters, about 3.2 trillion won has been included in the supplementary budget," and said, "To swiftly restore damage caused by recent wildfires, disaster countermeasure funds have been significantly increased from 500 billion won to 1.5 trillion won, and 1,000 newly built rental houses will be supplied for disaster victims."
Additionally, the government plans to strengthen disaster response capabilities by introducing advanced equipment such as artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance cameras and additional medium-to-large forest helicopters, and to expand the contingency fund by 1.4 trillion won. Furthermore, a budget of 4.4 trillion won has been allocated to support Korean companies facing trade risks and to respond to global technological hegemony competition in AI and semiconductors.
Acting President Han emphasized, "To alleviate tariff damage and financial difficulties of export companies, 25 trillion won in policy funds will be newly supplied through low-interest loans, and the number of companies supported by export vouchers will be more than doubled," adding, "To foster the AI industry ecosystem, we will secure 10,000 latest high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) within this year, and significantly expand related personnel and research expenses so that excellent AI talents can work domestically."
The government has also allocated about 4.3 trillion won to ease the management burden of small business owners and support the livelihood stability of vulnerable groups.
Acting President Han said, "As domestic demand recovery is delayed, many small business owners and self-employed people are facing difficulties," and added, "To reduce operating costs for small business owners with annual sales under 300 million won, we will provide vouchers worth up to 500,000 won." A win-win payback project will also be promoted simultaneously to secure the sales base of small business operators by refunding a certain portion of the increase in card consumption.
Acting President Han added, "If the supplementary budget bill is promptly passed and executed by the National Assembly, it will significantly help improve the difficulties of the livelihood economy."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
