Starting on the 24th, the National Assembly will begin the final review of next year's 728 trillion won budget. A full-fledged clash is expected over the presidential office and prosecution special operation expenses, the Public Growth Fund, and artificial intelligence (AI)-related budgets, which the ruling and opposition parties had put on hold.
According to a compilation of reporting by ChosunBiz on the 23rd, the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts wrapped up its cut and increase reviews that began on the 17th. The committee cut 121.1 billion won from the government's budget proposal for next year and added 19.6 billion won, resulting in a net reduction of 101.5 billion won.
Starting on the 24th, the ruling and opposition parties will review key project budgets that were put on hold. They are expected to continue sparring over special operation expenses for the presidential office and the prosecution. Earlier, the government included 8.251 billion won in special operation expenses for the presidential office in the budget proposal. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration asked for the same amount last year, but the Democratic Party cut it in full. The prosecution's special operation expenses of 7.209 billion won were also included in the proposal. That, too, was fully cut last year by the Democratic Party from the budget drawn up by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
The Democratic Party says the government's original plan should be maintained for stable state management. However, the People Power Party strongly opposes it, saying it is hypocrisy to have slashed it heavily while in the opposition and then to demand a similar amount after becoming the ruling party.
The ruling and opposition parties are also at odds over the 1 trillion won budget for the Public Growth Fund promoted by the Lee Jae-myung administration. The Democratic Party is calling for an increase, while the People Power Party is demanding a full cut. For the AI Innovation Fund and the Public AX (AI Grand Transformation) project, which are core state tasks of this administration, the People Power Party is calling for cuts, saying they are overlapping budgets. Each project has 100 billion won allocated.
The parties are also expected to clash over the 1.15 trillion won budget to support issuance of local love gift certificates and the 170.3 billion won budget for the pilot program on basic income in farming and fishing villages, which are of interest to the president.
To pass the budget bill by the statutory deadline of Dec. 2, the Democratic Party plans to hold a sub-subcommittee within the budget subcommittee through the 27th and then approve the budget bill at a full committee meeting on the 28th.