2023-11-16 11:59:01
President Yoon Seok-yeol and his wife are greeting each other as they depart from Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province to San Francisco, USA, to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit on the 15th. /News 1
While the ruling and opposition parties were reviewing next year’s foreign affairs-related budget, they argued over the cost of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s overseas trip, and the meeting was eventually suspended. The Democratic Party of Korea said, “Salespeople spend too much money,” and the People Power Party countered by saying, “This is not money that should be spent on going out to have fun.”
On the 16th, the Budget and Settlement Special Committee’s Budget Coordination Subcommittee conducted a review of reductions in the budget plans under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously, the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee accepted the government’s original plan for ‘leader and prime minister diplomacy’, which allocated 27.113 billion won, and passed it on to the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. However, the original bill passed to the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts was blocked by the opposition party.
Democratic Party lawmakers argued that regarding 2.2 billion won needed to be reduced. Democratic Party lawmaker Do Jong-hwan mentioned that former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in spent an average of 18.2 billion won and 16.3 billion won per year on summit diplomacy, and said, “Looking at the (current government’s) spending by October 2022 and 2023, it is 65.187 billion won. “It was a huge expense,” he said.
On the other hand, People Power Party lawmaker Lee Yong-ho said, “I wonder if it is right to question the budget for summit diplomacy.” He added, “It is important what the summit diplomacy is regarding and what work is done, rather than (pointing out) the cost. “Is that right?” he countered. First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Jang Ho-jin also said, “Compared to five years ago, the inflation rate is 31%, and airfare, hotel, and lodging costs have risen much more than other areas. “It costs nearly twice as much,” he said.
Then Rep. Kang Hoon-sik, a secretary of the Democratic Party, said, “The salesman (President Yoon) is spending too much money. “From Official Development Assistance (ODA) to summit diplomacy, he has nowhere to spare,” he said. The ruling and opposition parties decided to put the budget on hold and discuss it through inter-secretary consultation.
Subsequently, a fight broke out once more between the ruling and opposition parties over the budget for the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit, which was allocated 34.739 billion won. Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon said, “The so-called data only says that it costs 30.3 billion won for the summit and side meetings and 2.9 billion won for the preparation planning team.” “If we say, ‘Let’s pass it,’ then why are we sitting here?” he said, requesting data.
Then People Power Party lawmaker Song Seok-jun said, “Every time you visit, we hold a huge export market, so don’t look at it from a strange perspective.” During Rep. Song’s remarks, Rep. Cho countered by saying, “Let’s look at the data and talk,” and shouts broke out between the two lawmakers, saying that he was interrupting his speech. Eventually, as the emotional battle intensified, the meeting was adjourned, and Chairman Seo Sam-seok of the Budget and Accounts Committee later declared an adjournment.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party held a series of plenary meetings with the Budget Settlement Review Subcommittee of the Environment and Labor Committee on this day and completely cut 238.213 billion won in the ‘Youth Employment Pathway and Work Experience Support Budget’, a youth employment policy included in the current government’s national agenda. One of the Moon Jae-in administration’s representative policies, the ‘Youth Tomorrow Filling Credit’ project and the budget for ‘Social Enterprise Support’ were left as is.
The plenary meeting of the Trade, Industry, Energy and Small and Medium Venture Business Committee was canceled. When the Democratic Party insisted on cutting nuclear power plant-related budgets, including the 100 billion won budget for the nuclear ecosystem financial support project and 25 billion won in the nuclear power plant export guarantee budget, People Power Party lawmakers protested and walked out. The Industrial Development Committee plans to hold another general meeting on the 20th.
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