A majority party bent on political vendetta
Published: 02 Dec. 2024, 19:44
Updated: 02 Dec. 2024, 23:19
National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik has put the brakes on the submission of the drastically cut budget bill for next year. He urged both the governing People Power Party (PPP) and majority Democratic Party (DP) to strike a compromise by Dec. 10. The legislature’s failure to meet the deadline on Dec. 2 for passing next year’s budget was already anticipated after the DP unilaterally slashed 4.1 trillion won ($2.9 billion) from the original 677.4 trillion won budget in the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts last week.
The majority party entirely cut the 67.8 billion budget for special activities by the prosecution, the police and the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI). The DP also slashed the entire budget of 8.2 billion won for special activities by the Presidential Security Service and other special expenses by the presidential office. The party claimed it will not paralyze the function of the government, but such a reckless cut not only deepens ordinary citizens’ public safety concerns but also lowers the morale of civil servants. The DP’s move is certainly linked to the need to defend its leader from his deepening judicial risks.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said the majority party even slashed the 81.5 billion won budget for finding future growth engines in the basic science, quantum computing, chipmaking and bio technology fields. Another cut of 165 billion won for welfare services will only exacerbate the deepening woes of the vulnerable class. The DP went so far as to curtail the budget needed to cover tax exemptions for national strategic technologies like chips and AI, not to mention a budget to restore the depressed domestic demand. The finance minister lamented at the majority party being engrossed in political battles over economic issues.
Amid gloomy economic prospects — like a growth rate stuck in the one percent range in the future — uncertainties grow at home and abroad. In the meantime, public anxieties about soaring real estate prices and mounting household debts are deepening. The DP even abandoned its cherished 2 trillion won budget for issuing local currencies as well as another budget for building a high-speed train connecting Seoul to major cities in the Honam region, the DP’s power base. Nevertheless, the DP leader stressed the need for the government to draw up measures to stimulate the economy.
The DP is also poised to pass controversial motions to impeach three top prosecutors, including the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, as a vendetta against the prosecution’s repeated indictments of the DP leader for a plethora of allegations against him. If the party wants to gain political scores through such a combative stance, it will backfire. The DP must wake up before it’s too late.
The majority party entirely cut the 67.8 billion budget for special activities by the prosecution, the police and the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI). The DP also slashed the entire budget of 8.2 billion won for special activities by the Presidential Security Service and other special expenses by the presidential office. The party claimed it will not paralyze the function of the government, but such a reckless cut not only deepens ordinary citizens’ public safety concerns but also lowers the morale of civil servants. The DP’s move is certainly linked to the need to defend its leader from his deepening judicial risks.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok said the majority party even slashed the 81.5 billion won budget for finding future growth engines in the basic science, quantum computing, chipmaking and bio technology fields. Another cut of 165 billion won for welfare services will only exacerbate the deepening woes of the vulnerable class. The DP went so far as to curtail the budget needed to cover tax exemptions for national strategic technologies like chips and AI, not to mention a budget to restore the depressed domestic demand. The finance minister lamented at the majority party being engrossed in political battles over economic issues.
Amid gloomy economic prospects — like a growth rate stuck in the one percent range in the future — uncertainties grow at home and abroad. In the meantime, public anxieties about soaring real estate prices and mounting household debts are deepening. The DP even abandoned its cherished 2 trillion won budget for issuing local currencies as well as another budget for building a high-speed train connecting Seoul to major cities in the Honam region, the DP’s power base. Nevertheless, the DP leader stressed the need for the government to draw up measures to stimulate the economy.
The DP is also poised to pass controversial motions to impeach three top prosecutors, including the chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, as a vendetta against the prosecution’s repeated indictments of the DP leader for a plethora of allegations against him. If the party wants to gain political scores through such a combative stance, it will backfire. The DP must wake up before it’s too late.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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