“‘Available Immediately’ Reserve Fund at 400 Billion KRW Level”
Urging Cooperation from Democratic Party… “April Parliament Processing”
The People Power Party has called for cooperation from the opposition party regarding the government’s formal decision to push for a supplementary budget (추경) of 10 trillion KRW to respond to wildfire disasters and others.
The People Power Party’s Emergency Committee Chairman Kwon Young-se stated on the morning of the 31st at a meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, “The ‘wildfire supplementary budget’ cannot be a subject of political bargaining” and “It must be treated as the top priority above all else in Parliament.”
Chairman Kwon emphasized, “It is expected that at least 3 to 4 trillion KRW will be needed for recovery,” adding, “However, unfortunately, the reserve fund immediately available for disaster response by the government amounts to only 400 billion KRW.”
He continued, “Most evacuees are elderly, making the situation truly urgent,” adding, “If politics falls into factional disputes in the face of disaster and fails to do what needs to be done, only the suffering of evacuees and the public will grow. We request the grand cooperation of the Democratic Party.”
Kim Sang-hoon, Policy Committee Chairman, also urged, “As the Democratic Party has emphasized supplementary budgets for wildfire damage recovery, it is now time for the government to allocate the related budget and for the ruling and opposition parties to agree on its processing.”
Chairman Kim stated, “The supplementary budget bill announced by the government yesterday is one that can be agreed upon without partisan contention, based on its nature,” noting that it is an essential budget for swift processing and a tight budget requiring the issuance of government bonds. He added, “We hope that the related supplementary budget will be swiftly processed in the April parliament, and we urge the Democratic Party’s cooperation.”