The budget bill has disappeared...Opposition 'Power Show' vs. ruling party 'Stepbook'

[Anchor]
In the 22nd National Assembly, the ruling and opposition parties, which were in conflict with each other, eventually broke the legal deadline for the budget bill.

It is pointed out that neither the opposition party, which tried to handle the budget alone with a majority of seats, nor the ruling party, which failed to present a proper bargaining chip, can be free from responsibility.

I'm reporter Jeong In-yong.

[Reporter]
The budget bill was processed only twice, in 2014 when the National Assembly Advancement Act came into force and in 2020, when the National Assembly Advancement Act was implemented.

Even in the Yoon Suk Yeol government, the situation did not improve, with the following year's budget only being processed on December 24, 2022.

This means that the confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties was severe, and this year, for the first time in constitutional history, the "reduced budget" of the large opposition party has passed the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, the last gateway before the plenary session.

[Heo Young / Secretary of the National Assembly Budget Committee, Democratic Party of Korea (Last month, 29th): It is very meaningful that we have created room to cut unnecessary budgets and capture the people's livelihood budgets.]

As the budget is a matter that has traditionally emphasized the three-way agreement between the ruling and opposition parties and the government, many say that the opposition party is primarily responsible for ignoring it and insisting on a tough attitude.

Although it is unlikely that Chairman Woo Won-sik will put the budget bill without agreement between the ruling and opposition parties to the plenary session in the first place, criticism is raised that the hurried implementation of the reduction plan at the Budget and Accounts Committee was nothing more than a "scaring of the ruling party."

[Won-Sik Woo / Speaker of the National Assembly: The government should be more committed to expanding the budget for people's livelihoods and the future. Again, we ask for more mature discussions between the ruling and opposition parties and the government's active efforts.

However, some point out that despite the opposition party's repeated requests for submission of evidence over special activity expenses by the Board of Audit and Inspection, the prosecution, and the police, it was a "stage measure" for the ruling party, which failed to find a compromise and eventually received a full cut.

It is also a boomerang to the ruling party that the opposition party has not left room for negotiations on the local currency and the budget for free high school education.

[Han Dong-hoon / Representative of People's Power: What is more frustrating is that we are trying to increase the inefficiency of local currency while leaving the inefficiency of local education finance grants intact.]

As for the passage of the opposition reduction plan by the plenary session, Chairman Woo Won-sik put the brakes on it, avoiding the worst record in constitutional history.

While the ruling and opposition parties are still fighting against you, there are growing concerns that the disappearance of politics is putting people's livelihoods and national affairs on the back burner.

This is YTN Jeong Yong-yong.

Lee Sang-chang Edit
video;Yang Young-woon