On the 28th, the People Power Party criticized Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, for saying, "There is 4.87 trillion won in the national budget to be used for disaster response such as forest fires, so there is no problem with disaster response," calling it "a deception of the people."
Kim Sang-hoon, the chairman of the People Power Party's policy committee, issued a statement that day, saying, "In order to evade responsibility for the outrageous cuts in the original budget's contingency fund, they are deceiving the public with nonsensical number games without fact-checking," and expressed regret over Lee's haphazard and shortsighted attitude toward the national budget. He highlighted that the Democratic Party had cut half of the total reserve fund during the unilateral handling of this year’s budget bill at the end of last year, resulting in a total reserve fund of 24 trillion won for this year.
Chairman Kim systematically refuted Lee and the Democratic Party's claims regarding the disaster response budget. Previously, the Democratic Party stated that it could invest a total of 4.87 trillion won in forest fire responses, including 24 trillion won in the reserve fund, 9.7 trillion won for disaster and disaster recovery expenses by each ministry, and 15 trillion won in national government debt burden for disaster recovery.
In response, Chairman Kim emphasized, "The actual purpose reserve fund that can be immediately used is about 400 billion won." Of the 24 trillion won reserve fund, 16 trillion won is earmarked for disaster and other purposes, and among this, 12 trillion won was unilaterally determined by the Democratic Party to be spent on expenses for projects such as free high school education, according to the ruling party.
The Democratic Party's claim that "9.7 trillion won for disaster recovery funding for each ministry remains" was also criticized, stating, "They spread false information without proper verification." According to the People Power Party, the departmental disaster recovery fund is 9.27 trillion won, of which the available budget is 1.998 trillion won, as explained by Chairman Kim.
Specifically, of the 9.27 trillion won, 4.17 trillion won is allocated for disaster recovery from disasters that occurred last year, and the budget that can be executed this year is stated to be 510 billion won by the ruling party. Even the 510 billion won allocated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, totaling 185 billion won, is designated for use in droughts, typhoons, etc., and cannot be used for social disasters like forest fires. Additionally, 125.2 billion won (78.6 billion won for the Korea Forest Service and 46.6 billion won for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Environment) has already been executed by each ministry, according to the explanation.
Regarding the 15 trillion won in national government debt burden, Chairman Kim stated, "This budget can only be used for facility recovery and cannot be used for compensation or living expenses for disaster-affected residents." Since government debt burden actions effectively mean borrowing from next year's budget, there are limitations in handling disaster support for forest fires and other disasters.
The People Power Party intends to directly allocate about 600 billion won (599.8 billion won), which includes 1.998 trillion won in disaster recovery funds that can be used immediately and 400 billion won in the reserve fund, to support the victims of the forest fires in the Yeongnam region.
At the same time, they announced that they would secure 2 trillion won in disaster contingency funds in upcoming supplementary budgets.
Chairman Kim argued, "We should sufficiently secure 2 trillion won in reserve funds not only for this large forest fire in the Yeongnam region but also to prepare for any potential disasters or damages that may occur, and we plan to closely consult with the government on this matter today."
He added, "The 2 trillion won in reserve funds secured through the supplementary budget will be closely prepared to immediately respond not only to this forest fire damage but also to any disasters that may occur."