Choi Sang-mok said, "Big opposition party is only engrossed in political strife by taking the budget hostage...I'm deeply sorry."

[Anchor]
In connection with the opposition's push for the independent handling of the reduction budget, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok and other government ministers issued a statement saying they were deeply sorry.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi urged the Democratic Party to respond to sincere negotiations, especially worrying that it could miss the golden time to increase industrial competitiveness ahead of the launch of the new U.S. government.

Let's listen to it.

[Choi Sang-mok / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance: The world is in a war without gunfire, but the big opposition party says it can't give our business a much-needed bullet as it only focuses on political strife with the budget bill as hostage. The damage is entirely to our people and businesses. It can reduce capacity to respond to bad news at home and abroad, increase uncertainty, and reduce confidence in our fiscal management capabilities, undermining national credibility. My fellow citizens, the opposition reduction plan is a budget that neutralizes disasters and trade risks, a budget that ignores people's livelihoods and local economies, a budget that loses opportunities for timely recovery of industrial competitiveness, and a loose budget that cuts interest expenses on treasury bonds by 500 billion won. The economy doesn't run on its own. People's livelihoods are not restored for free. The growing external uncertainty is difficult to respond to even if the public and the ruling and opposition parties meet. Time is not on our side either.