Sept. 7 Legislative Report: The 820 Trillion-Won Budget Bill Is the Decisive Battleground
The 820 Trillion-Won Budget and the Mega Special Zone Act Are the Battleground
The 820.9 trillion-won budget bill and the Mega Special Zone Act will decide the fate of this regular National Assembly session. Democratic Party of Korea leader Kim Min-seok takes the floor at the plenary session on the 7th to deliver the first negotiating-bloc leadership speech of the second half of the 22nd National Assembly. According to Yonhap News, Kim plans to use the speech to press for legislative action on livelihood and economic issues, including the "three major mega projects," as well as real estate tasks, while seeking cooperation across the aisle. The regular session, which opened on the 1st, enters full-scale review from the leadership speeches onward.
The schedule is tight. After Kim's speech on the 7th and one by People Power Party floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik on the 8th, the National Assembly opens interpellations—formal question sessions with the government—on politics, foreign affairs, unification, security, the economy, education, social affairs and culture from the 9th through the 11th and again on the 14th. Confirmation hearings run in parallel. Starting with Supreme Court justice nominee Kim Seong-su on the 14th, hearings are set for Deputy Prime Minister and Economy and Finance Minister nominee Lee Hyung-il and SMEs and Startups Minister nominee Lee So-young on the 15th, and Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister nominee Hong Ji-sun on the 16th. According to the National Assembly's open information portal, the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has assigned Democratic Party lawmakers Lee Ji-yeon, Kim Seon-ok and Hwang In-hong, People Power Party lawmakers Ho Joon-seok and Jeong Joo-hee, and Rebuilding Korea Party lawmakers Kim Bum-jin and Jung Yeon-joo, among others, to the panel, where budget review is already under way.
The Mega Special Zone Act and Constitutional Revision: Two Pillars of Debate
For the business community, the first checkpoint is the Mega Special Zone Act. The ruling party and government have agreed to sponsor the bill within the month, including an exemption for research and development personnel from the 52-hour weekly cap on working hours under the Labor Standards Act. The design aims to give companies flexibility in workforce management in deadline-driven fields such as semiconductors, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. Once the regulation is loosened, it is highly likely to translate into expanded R&D investment by large companies and increased hiring of science and engineering talent.
Kim also played the constitutional revision card in his speech.
"Enshrining the full texts of the May 18 Democratization Movement and the Busan-Masan Uprising in the constitution is the starting point of revision; as for restructuring the framework of power, we should go as far as the people want."
Also eye-catching was his proposal that lawmakers in the plenary chamber sit in alphabetical order rather than by party bloc—read as a strategy of tackling what is achievable first rather than grand political reform. But as the constitutional debate deepens, it will inevitably compete for calendar time with the budget bill and livelihood legislation, making the management of legislative priorities the decisive factor.
Voting Records Reveal Cracks Inside Both Major Parties
The real obstacle to passing bills lies not outside the parties but within them. National Assembly voting data show the People Power Party breaking from its official line again and again. In the Aug. 20 vote on a revision to the National Pension Act (substitute bill), 27 PPP lawmakers voted yes while nine—including Woo Jae-joon, Joo Ho-young, Kang Min-guk and Park Sung-hoon—voted no. That same day, on a revision to the act compensating those involved in the May 18 Democratic Uprising, six defected against 14 in favor. Measured against participating members, the opposition share ran to 25% and 30%, respectively.
A revision to the Framework Act on the Construction Industry (substitute bill) passed nine to five—virtually a fifty-fifty split. The Agriculture and Fisheries Councils Act (substitute bill) drew 35 ayes against 8 nays, and the Special Act on Support for the Complex Development of School Sites 13 ayes against 5. By contrast, defections narrowed to four—Joo Ho-young, Kim Jang-gyeom, Kang Seung-gyu and Lee Jong-uk—in the Sept. 3 vote on a revision to the special act on the Oct. 29 Itaewon crowd crush. The ruling party is no exception: in the same day's vote on a revision to the National Intelligence Service Act, Democratic Party lawmakers Jeon Jin-sook, Seo Mi-hwa and Moon Jeong-bok voted against.
The problem is repetition. Joo Ho-young has voted against on the National Pension Act, the May 18 compensation act and the Itaewon special act in succession, while Kang Min-guk and Park Sung-hoon did so on the National Pension Act, the May 18 compensation act and the Agriculture and Fisheries Councils Act. With many bills decided by single-digit margins, a handful of defectors can flip a plenary outcome. Meanwhile, with Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Research Institute, arguing that President Lee Jae-myung's election-law violation case should be resolved through legislative amendment voiding the charges rather than withdrawal of the indictment, election-law revision has also landed on the legislative table.
Market Ripple Effects and Outlook for the Rest of the Session
Investors' watchpoints boil down to three. First, the speed of budget passage. If the 820.9 trillion-won budget is locked in within the year, early execution in the first half of next year becomes possible, creating a favorable environment for construction and defense sectors exposed to government spending. Next is the precise wording of the Mega Special Zone Act: how broadly the 52-hour exemption extends across job categories will determine the range of beneficiary companies. Finally, the outcome of Lee Hyung-il's hearing on the 15th will serve as a traffic light for upcoming tax-law revisions and the direction of fiscal management.
The Framework Act on the Construction Industry and the school-site special act passed last month are already assessed as having redrawn the institutional landscape for construction and real estate. As Kennedy's aphorism warns—those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future—the fate of this Assembly hinges on how quickly change is written into law. Still, with confirmation-hearing skirmishes flaring from the outset, livelihood bills risk being pushed to the back burner if conditions for cross-party cooperation deteriorate. Jeong Jeom-sik's reply speech on the 8th is expected to be the first test of bipartisan comity.
