The government is pushing for a supplementary budget of 10 trillion won. It is proposing a supplementary budget that encompasses essential funding for disaster and disaster response to address the recent large-scale wildfires in the Gyeongsang region, strengthening competitiveness in trade and artificial intelligence (AI), and supporting livelihoods. The government stated that if cooperation from both the ruling and opposition parties is quickly achieved based on this, it would be possible to prepare the supplementary budget in April.
Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok chaired an economic ministers' meeting regarding urgent issues at the Government Seoul Building on the 30th, announcing plans to pursue a supplementary budget of 10 trillion won. In discussions about the supplementary budget, the government has previously taken a step back, operating under the premise of discussions at the 'National Policy Council' involving both ruling and opposition parties, but has accelerated efforts in light of the recent wildfire catastrophe.
Vice Minister Choi noted, "We aim to push forward with a supplementary budget of 10 trillion won that only includes projects that can be executed swiftly to address urgent issues" and explained, "In terms of content, we will focus on three major areas with no differences between the ruling and opposition parties: ▲ disaster and disaster response ▲ strengthening competitiveness in trade and AI ▲ livelihood support."
First, the government decided to prioritize the necessary funding for disaster response, such as the recent wildfire catastrophe. Vice Minister Choi stated, "We will secure sufficient funds for rapid wildfire recovery and the complete return of affected residents to their daily lives" and added, "We will actively support the enhancement of the wildfire prevention and extinguishing system to ensure that casualties like this do not occur again."
Earlier, in light of the recent wildfire, there was a debate in the political arena about whether existing budget resources could also be used to respond to wildfire damage. The opposition claimed that a total of 4.87 trillion won could be used, including 2.4 trillion won from the emergency reserve, 970 billion won from disaster recovery funds by ministries, and 1.5 trillion won in government bond liabilities for disaster recovery. In contrast, the ruling party argued that considering the already confirmed uses or previously executed projects, only 2.1 trillion won could be mobilized, including 400 billion won from the emergency reserve, and that the 1.5 trillion won in disaster recovery bond liabilities would effectively create debt in next year's budget, thus could not be freely utilized.
The government believes that budget for wildfire response is necessary, as well as funding to address urgent issues. In response to uncertainties in the global trade environment, such as the escalation of the tariff war initiated by Trump, plans are in place to additionally supply trade finance and export vouchers to our exporting corporations, and to also expand support for the stabilization of supply chains for key items. Support will also be provided for the acquisition of additional high-performance GPUs (graphics processing units) to lead in AI technology competition and to improve access to AI computing for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The budget also included measures to support livelihoods due to sluggish domestic demand. Vice Minister Choi stated, "We will actively discover projects that alleviate the management burdens on small businesses and enhance the consumption capacity of common people and vulnerable groups to revive domestic demand."
Vice Minister Choi urged a swift agreement among the political parties based on the current government's supplementary budget proposal. He remarked, "If there are increases in projects that are controversial between the ruling and opposition parties or do not align with the purpose of the supplementary budget during the National Assembly's review process, the review will be indefinitely prolonged due to political conflicts, and the supplementary budget will not be able to achieve its intended effects" and added, "If the ruling and opposition parties agree with the intent of the essential supplementary budget, the government will promptly proceed with consultations with relevant ministries to prepare the budget proposal and submit it to the National Assembly."
He emphasized, "I request bipartisan cooperation from both the ruling and opposition parties to ensure that the supplementary budget can pass through the National Assembly in April."