National Assembly passes 656.6 trillion won budget focusing on social welfare

An electronic screen at the National Assembly shows the voting result of next year's budget proposal on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The National Assembly passed a 656.6 trillion won ($503.4 billion) budget proposal for next year on Thursday after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle found a common ground for reducing the overall spending size and bolstering social welfare funding.

The bill passed with 237 in favor, 9 opposed and 13 abstentions, more than two weeks past its legal deadline of Dec. 2.

The final package was down 300 billion won from the government's initial proposal of 656.9 trillion won submitted in September, but slightly larger than the 652.7 trillion won proposal sent by the governing and opposition parties Wednesday.

Next year’s budget is up 2.8 percent from that of this year, marking the slimmest growth since 2005 when the government changed how the data is compiled.

Across 12 different sectors, welfare was granted the highest amount of budgetary expenditure at 242.9 trillion won for 2024 — over a third of the entire spending — up 7.5 percent on-year.

Under the new budget plan, the existing recipients of the government’s monthly allowances program will see the subsidies rise by 213,000 won, or 13.2 percent, if they belong to a four-member household.

The four-member family will be entitled to 1.83 million won per month from the current 1.62 million won.

For young people struggling to pay monthly rent, a total of 69 billion won will be injected.

The two main parties — the People Power Party and the Democratic Party — worked to increase the expenditures for research and development (R&D) and regional infrastructure projects from the initial proposal, while environment and diplomacy suffered a reduction of their budgets as a result of the discussion.

The R&D budget will add 600 billion won to reach 26.5 trillion won in 2024. “The R&D segment will receive a boost centering around fields on next-generation technology and foundational technology alongside support for advanced equipment,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

On the other hand, spending for the environment shrank from 12.6 trillion won in the early draft to 12.5 trillion won and that of diplomacy reduced from 7.7 trillion won to 7.5 trillion won.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]