The People Power Party on the 2nd said President Lee Jae-myung's war-related supplementary budget policy address was nothing more than a political speech that rationalized a supplementary budget as an excuse for political strife and as an election-season vote-buying fund.
People Power Party Floor Leader Song Eon-seog met with reporters after the president's policy address and said it was a blatant declaration to hide the reality of Korea's economic crisis and to throw an election-oriented debt party under the pretext of war.
Song said the president emphasized the Middle East war and the livelihoods-and-economy crisis, but the actual contents of the supplementary budget plan heavily consist of populist cash handout programs such as subsidies for the bottom 70% by income and local currency, adding that items such as expanding renewable energy and expanding "sunlight income villages" are not appropriate as supplementary budget projects and should be reviewed as medium- to long-term projects.
He continued that, in a situation that requires measures for a prolonged war and stable fuel procurement, it is impossible not to express regret toward a government that shows a very complacent mindset focused only on preparing for elections, and said that although it is called a debt-free supplementary budget, if the government executes cash-spray-type projects solely on the basis that tax revenue has exceeded expectations at this stage, without considering concerns about a tax shortfall due to a drop in growth in the second half, a very serious crisis could hit the economy in the second half.
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok also wrote on Facebook that the president came to the National Assembly and delivered a policy address on the supplementary budget, calling it a sweet anesthetic to drop a tax nuclear bomb after the election, saying the most vulnerable in our society will be the first to be harmed and that incompetence cannot be covered up by spraying cash.
Park Chung-gwon, the senior floor spokesperson, said in a commentary that of the 26.2 trillion won in the supplementary budget, direct support for industries in emergency, such as the oil refining and airline sectors, amounts to only 4.2 trillion won. He said the high oil price relief payments are not selective but indiscriminately expanded and do not align with the purpose of the supplementary budget, calling it the final chapter of election-season money flooding.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, meanwhile, pledged swift passage of the supplementary budget bill. Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do said they will ensure the supplementary budget is passed at the plenary session on the 10th and that the president, the government, and the Democratic Party of Korea will move as one to keep the golden time.
Han said the government designed a 26.2 trillion won breakwater and brought it to the National Assembly, emphasizing that on the 34th day of the Middle East war, as the KOSPI surpassed 5,000 and semiconductors and shipbuilding were poised to lead the global market and take off again, our economy faced an unexpected complex crisis, and that it is time to build a solid breakwater in the face of the storm.
Democratic Party floor spokesperson Moon Geum-ju said in a written briefing that a debt-free supplementary budget using excess tax revenue and fund resources without issuing Government Bonds is a decision that considers both fiscal responsibility and crisis response, adding that it encompasses easing the burden of high oil prices, protecting the vulnerable, supporting small business owners, and stabilizing supply chains, serving as a practical response to protect people's lives.
Moon said the Democratic Party of Korea will become a breakwater that holds out to the end on the front line of overcoming the crisis together with the Lee Jae-myung administration, and vowed to focus all capabilities to ensure this supplementary budget bill passes without a single inch of delay, to surely protect people's lives and Korea's economy.