Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized the supplementary budget proposal of 35 trillion won suggested by the Democratic Party sharply, calling it "populism for early elections" and "an economy that deceives the people." With the early election becoming visible, ruling party presidential candidates are seen attacking Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung's cash support policy via the 'supplementary budget.'
Rep. Ahn noted on his Facebook on the 16th, "Lee Jae-myung's 35 trillion supplementary budget is populism for early elections," asking, "Is it necessary to use the supplementary budget for the election at difficult times for the people?"
He pointed out, "Does Lee Jae-myung and his family really need the 250,000 won support disguised as local currency? If Lee Jae-myung, whose mind is elsewhere, comes to power, it would show how much populism he would waste, demonstrating Lee Jae-myung-style supplementary budgets."
He added, "Truly helping the people in need is the people's supplementary budget," stating, "Pouring out enormous amounts of money is the debt of the future 2030 generation."
Rep. Ahn stated, "If we invest 10 trillion won in AI, it will return to us in several times over the years. Let's support semiconductors like the U.S., China, and Japan. If we provide 50 trillion won in national funding, we can create 500 trillion won in wealth in 10 years."
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also said on Facebook the previous day, "When I said I would give up the 250,000 won local currency for all citizens and hurriedly asked for the supplementary budget, it seemed to mock the people who wanted to believe in that sincerity by merely changing the name of the support for recovering people's livelihoods to consumption coupons," adding, "This supplementary budget proposal from the Democratic Party revealed once again the true face of Leader Lee Jae-myung."
Oh remarked, "They allocated 13 trillion won for cash-type local currency distribution but ignored the semiconductor special law, whereas they planned only 5 trillion won for AI semiconductor support, which is less than half of the local currency budget for the sake of appearance," noting, "The real economy that saves technology companies is being pushed aside, and everything is tailored to Lee Jae-myung's 'economy that deceives the people.'"
Earlier, the Democratic Party announced a supplementary budget proposal of 35 trillion won on the 13th. The core of this budget is the 'support consumption coupon' budget. It proposes to provide local currency worth 250,000 won to all citizens but to give 350,000 won to vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood recipients, assigning a budget of 13.2 trillion won for this purpose. The People's Power Party claims that distributing cash-type local currency has a minimal effect on recovering the domestic economy and views it as a 'populist budget' aimed at early elections.