The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House on the 22nd agreed to swiftly pass a 25 trillion won supplementary budget to respond to rising oil prices and high inflation stemming from the Middle East crisis. The party-government-Blue House said it made the decision after holding a high-level policy consultation at the National Assembly that day, senior spokesperson Kang Joon-hyun of the Democratic Party of Korea said. Kang said, "This supplementary budget will be drawn up using excess tax revenue without issuing additional Government Bonds."
The supplementary budget was decided as the international energy supply-and-demand crisis deepened following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran's retaliatory air raids. Earlier, President Lee Jae-myung at a senior secretaries' meeting on the 19th said regarding the Middle East situation that "preemptive measures are needed for people's livelihoods across the board," adding, "The Blue House and all government ministries must recognize with a grave attitude that this is an 'economic wartime situation.'"
In particular, after dubbing the supplementary budget a "war budget," Lee said, "Speed is life in the government's response right now." Lee added, "It must be structured to ease the shock to people's livelihoods and keep the momentum for economic recovery alive," and said, "Please design it quickly so that it can substantially reduce the damage to vulnerable groups, small business owners, and corporations, which have been hit hard by the Middle East situation, and ensure funds circulate smoothly on the ground."