Park Soo-young of the People Power Party said on the 16th that "the real national debt comes to a total of 4,632 trillion won as of the end of 2024, a whopping 181% of gross domestic product (GDP)."
Park said at a floor countermeasures meeting that "the government only releases D1, the liabilities of the central and local governments; D2, which adds nonprofit public institutions; and up to D3, which includes nonfinancial public corporations, but none of these properly reflect Korea's reality," adding, "Korea mandates by law that the state is responsible for pensions. To properly inform the public of how much liability the state bears, the government must transparently disclose D4, the sum of everything, 4,632 trillion won."
D4 is the sum of the public sector liability (D3) of 1,738 trillion won recently released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Pension unfunded liability of 1,575 trillion won, the military pension provision of 267 trillion won, and the civil service pension provision of 1,052 trillion won.
Park said, "We must be frank with the public and craft fiscal policy by saying, 'Already, each citizen carries 89.63 million won of debt, a baby is born owing nearly 90 million won, and the reality is we are saddling future generations with even more debt,'" adding, "But the Lee Jae-myung administration is not even trying to persuade the public, has scrapped the fiscal rule stance of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration that at least existed, and is spraying money recklessly."
He noted, "Because of the counterproductive 250,000-won per person cash handout, Seoul and Gyeonggi Province have already massively restructured next year's welfare budgets," adding, "Because of the 'no-questions-asked' expansionary fiscal policy, the won has plunged, so even if international oil prices fall, Korea's gasoline prices are soaring to the ceiling."
Park warned, "International organizations such as the IMF and the OECD have repeatedly warned of Korea's rapid liability surge," adding that "because of 'Lee Jae-myung populism,' the sound of Korea's national competitiveness plummeting is spreading around the world."