The right to reject the extension of the "free high school education" support...Third request for reconsideration.

[Anchor]
Acting President Choi Sang-mok vetoed the extension of state funding for free high school education, which was passed by the opposition party.

This is my third veto since I took over as an acting authority.

January 27 was designated as a temporary holiday to revive people's livelihoods during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Reporter Park Hee-jae reports.

[Reporter]
The project to support free high school education with national funds has been introduced in the second half of 2019
The central government and the metropolitan and provincial offices of education have paid 47.5% of the budget to cover
tuition and admission fees.

*The Local Education Finance Grant Act, which contains this government support plan, has a special provision that is only valid until 2024,

At the end of last year, an amendment to extend it by three years was passed by the opposition party.

[Won-Sik Woo / Speaker of the National Assembly (December 31st last year): 181 out of 289 present, 107 against, and one abstaining, I declare that the amendment to the Local Education Finance Grant Act has been approved.]

The key issue is whether it is possible to cover free education expenses only with the budgets of local education offices, not the central government, and the people's power is that there is no need to extend state funding as the education office's budget has increased, and the Democratic Party needs more other education projects.

Eventually, Acting President Choi Sang-mok exercised his third right to demand reconsideration of the bill at the Cabinet meeting.

The reason was that as the local education budget increased by 3.4 trillion won this year, the region could afford to pay, and that excessive use of the national treasury in the economic downturn would eventually lead to a burden on the people.

[Choi Sang-mok / Acting President: If the state oversupports additional costs, it will make it difficult for the entire country to operate efficiently, ultimately adding to the burden on the people.]

The government has designated January 27 as a temporary holiday as a measure for the people's livelihood of the Lunar New Year.

During the six-day holiday, we asked them to participate in reviving domestic demand through consumption activities including domestic travel.

[Choi Sang-mok / Acting President: Please actively participate in reviving domestic demand and creating a win-win atmosphere through domestic travel and good consumer activities].]

Just before the Cabinet meeting, he also condemned North Korea's ballistic missile provocation as it became known.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok said that it was a clear violation of Security Council resolutions and that he would respond firmly.

I'm Park Heejae of YTN.

Filmmaker: Ko Min-cheol
Video editing: Seo Young-mi
Graphic: Im Saetbyul