National Assembly passes 727.9 trillion won budget for next year in 11th-hour consensus
Published: 03 Dec. 2025, 01:01
Updated: 03 Dec. 2025, 17:58
-
- SARAH KIM
- [email protected]
![Bipartisan lawmakers pass the revised budget bill for next year at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Dec. 2, just within the legal deadline. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/03/47d0073c-2a4c-4fd7-975d-fccc5a5df58e.jpg)
Bipartisan lawmakers pass the revised budget bill for next year at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Dec. 2, just within the legal deadline. [NEWS1]
The National Assembly passed a 2026 budget of 727.9 trillion won ($496 billion) late Tuesday, meeting the legal deadline for the first time in five years after rival parties struck an 11th-hour deal.
In a rare sign of bipartisanship, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and main opposition People Power Party (PPP) struck a last-minute deal in the morning, agreeing to approve the government's original budget proposal of 728 trillion won for 2026.
Lawmakers later passed the 2026 budget bill at around 11:40 p.m. in a late-night plenary session, with 248 in favor, eight against and six abstentions. The legal deadline was set to expire at midnight.
This budget is the first one allocated for the Lee Jae Myung administration, which came into office in June, and sees an 8.1 percent increase over this year's budget set by the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
In the negotiation process, the rival parties agreed to slash the budget by around 4.3 trillion won compared to the original plan, including in areas such as AI projects and policy funds. However, 4.2 trillion won was reallocated to other fields, thus leaving the total budget just 100 billion won less than the government's initial proposal.
After early morning talks, DP floor leader Kim Byung-kee and PPP floor leader Song Eon-seog agreed to pass the budget bill in the National Assembly later that day, keeping the promise just minutes before midnight.
Parliament has often missed the legal deadline to pass the budget proposal, which falls on Dec. 2, due to clashes between the rival parties, as has been the case for the past five years.
The DP and PPP have been scrambling to come to a consensus on issues including how to fund local gift certificate programs, corporate tax rates and special activity expenses.
The budget bill was able to pass within the deadline as the rival parties backed down on some demands, with the floor leaders of the ruling and opposition parties negotiating fiercely since Nov. 27 on issues including a budget to establish a national growth fund to support the development of new industries such as AI and a budget to support the issuance of local gift certificates.
The PPP also withdrew its budget cut demands for key national projects such as support for the issuance of local gift certificates and the national growth fund.
![Kim Byung-kee, right, floor leader of the liberal Democratic Party, and Song Eon-seog, floor leader of the conservative People Power Party, pose for a photo at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 2, after the rival parties reached a last-minute deal on next year's national budget. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/03/f95f4bb7-3fb7-437f-8fe1-e797eb0ac054.jpg)
Kim Byung-kee, right, floor leader of the liberal Democratic Party, and Song Eon-seog, floor leader of the conservative People Power Party, pose for a photo at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 2, after the rival parties reached a last-minute deal on next year's national budget. [YONHAP]
The DP, in turn, had been keen to reverse the corporate tax rate cuts introduced under the former Yoon government.
Parliament also passed a set of 16 supplementary budget bills.
Starting next year, the corporate tax rate will be raised uniformly by 1 percentage point for all taxable income brackets. The revision to the Corporate Tax Act comes as a measure to reverse tax cuts for the wealthy implemented under the Yoon administration in 2022.
This is the first time in five years that a budget bill has passed within the legal deadline, with the last such instance in December 2020, when the 2021 bill passed. At that time, the rival parties faced intense conflict, but the budget was passed within the deadline as lawmakers took into account economic difficulties due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Article 54 of the Constitution stipulates that the National Assembly "shall decide upon it within 30 days before the beginning of the fiscal year," but the Assembly has frequently violated this stipulation.
"Despite intense conflict between the ruling and opposition parties, an agreement was reached through dialogue and mutual concessions," National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said during the plenary session. "I hope that the responsible and mature attitudes of the rival parties will serve as a catalyst to ease the political deadlock and pave the way for cooperation between the ruling and opposition parties on necessary livelihood and reform initiatives going forward."
BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)