Han Jeong-ae, chairperson of the policy committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, said on the 24th, "Regarding the revenue shortfall of 56.4 trillion won that occurred in 2023 and 30.8 trillion won in 2024, measures are needed to prevent recurrence in the future."
On this day, the chairperson noted at a National Assembly meeting, "I will carefully examine the shortcomings in the National Assembly review process for the settlement of account for the 2024 fiscal year executed for the last time by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and demand necessary measures from the government, such as institutional improvement."
The chairperson evaluated, "If we look at the fiscal management during which the Yoon Suk-yeol administration was responsible for budget preparation and execution in 2023 and 2024, it failed to adhere to the fiscal principles that it itself emphasized, resulting in unprecedented revenue shortfall and cuts in research and development (R&D) budget," describing it as "failing grade."
He pointed out, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration responded to a business budget shortfall of tens of trillions of won by using surplus funds from public accounts and non-expenditure of allocated tax revenue, without modifying revenues. The non-expenditure of allocated taxes shifted the burden of revenue shortfall to local governments and citizens, and there was even a loss of national treasury during the process of utilizing surplus funds."
He added, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has failed to adhere to the fiscal principle of managing the fiscal deficit ratio within 3% of gross domestic product annually."
Regarding last year's conflict over expanding medical school admissions, he noted, "200 billion won in contingency funds and 3 trillion won in health insurance finances were allocated to resolve the shortage of medical personnel, and the social costs and financial inputs that could have been avoided if the government had communicated closely with medical professionals are considerable."
The chairperson stated, "In order to prevent a massive revenue shortfall from recurring, we must not only carefully examine the National Assembly's settlement of account review but also ensure that necessary corrective demands are made."
Regarding the increase in official development assistance (ODA), he noted, "Since the same problems are repeating, I will ensure that the expanding ODA budget is not wasted."
The chairperson pointed out that among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' non-reimbursable ODA projects, those with an actual execution rate of 80-100% account for only 16.4% of the total, adding, "I wonder whether there was a lack of budget allocation for projects that genuinely needed support."