October 31 Legislative Report: Rebuilding Korea Party Jumps Into Review of the 820 Trillion Won Budget
Rebuilding Korea Party lawmakers on the Education Committee, who concurrently serve on the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, have formally dived into the review of next year's 820.9 trillion won budget.
Representative Lee Eun-hye of the Rebuilding Korea Party is participating in government audits and budget deliberations as a member of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts in the 22nd National Assembly. According to public National Assembly data, fellow party members Song Jin-seop, Park Jae-jeong, Mo Eun-hee, Jo Hyun-sang, and Kim Woong are also listed on both the Budget and Accounts Special Committee and the Education Committee. It is a structure in which a small number of lawmakers from a single party hold seats on two standing-level committees at once, laying bare the practical limits on staffing for a party that failed to meet the negotiating group threshold.
Democratic Party's Cooperative Stance Put to the Test in Budget Session
Representative Lee Eun-hye has carried out her parliamentary activities under a cooperative posture with the Democratic Party of Korea. Her legislative work in the 22nd National Assembly, including proposing amendments to the Public Official Election Act, suggests the party's identity as an agent of "institutional reform" could extend into budget review. The allocation of Budget Committee seats to an extra-parliamentary party member without negotiating status is interpreted as a de facto channel of cooperation through committee seats secured by the Democratic Party.
The center of gravity in this budget session ultimately comes down to numbers. The government's budget proposal for next year stands at 820.9 trillion won. According to Poli News reporting, the ruling party framed it as "investment in the future" while the opposition called it "a pile of debt," clashing from day one. The debate goes beyond simple allocation. A key task for this session is how to secure the fiscal foundation to sustain major projects even after the semiconductor boom has cooled.
Amid this, Representative Bae Joon-young of the People Power Party, as the opposition's floor lead on the Strategy and Finance Committee, urged the Democratic Party to defer virtual asset taxation. With taxation scheduled to take effect in January next year, the opposition is pushing the issue as a bargaining card during the budget review. For Rebuilding Korea Party lawmakers who have taken part in audits of the education sector, discussions on adjusting education budget allocations are expected to be an unavoidable task.
Voting Patterns Reveal Party Fractures
Recent floor voting records show how difficult budget negotiations may be. The partial revision bill to the Special Accounts for Agricultural and Rural Communities Improvement Act split the Democratic Party itself, with 86 in favor and 16 opposed. Representatives Chung Chung-rae, Cho Seung-rae, Jung Il-young, Kim Hyun, Moon Dae-rim, Park Jung-hyun, Kim Young-hwan, and Park Ji-won, among others, voted against the party line. On the same bill, four People Power Party members including Kim Yong-tae, Kwon Young-se, Lee Man-hee, and Lee Sang-hwi also broke from the majority opposed.
On the alternative bill for a partial revision of the Emergency Medical Services Act, the People Power Party was openly split, with 14 in favor and 10 against. Representatives Lee Sang-hwi, Park Chung-kwon, Lee So-hee, Park Jung-ha, Park Soo-young, Yoon Young-seok, Yoo Young-ha, and Choi Eun-seok defected. On the broadcasting law revision, Representatives Lee Jin-sook, Kim Min-jeon, and Choi Soo-jin broke ranks, while Representatives Han Ki-ho, Song Eon-seok, and Lee Jin-sook did so on the alternative eco-friendly agriculture promotion bill. The areas where internal defections repeatedly occur on both sides of the aisle are agriculture and fisheries, where regional and industry interests intertwine, along with healthcare and broadcasting. The same terrain is highly likely to reappear during budget review.
Issues Pile Up in December: The Negotiation Wildcards
Alongside the budget review, issues are stacking up inside and outside the National Assembly. The Democratic Party announced it would process a government investigation plan into suspicions that Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de acquiesced to the December 3 martial law declaration at a plenary session on the 12th of next month. Senior spokesperson Park Sung-jun said, "There was clearly a late-night meeting, and a government investigation is essential to uncover the truth of a case that was inadequately investigated." With the People Power Party pushing back, calling it "crude political violence," there are predictions that political friction could spread to the budget negotiating table.
The Democratic Party also announced plans to intensively push ten livelihood bills covering housing stability and responses to dating violence, and has moved to legislate a Special Act on Designated Farmland Management to bring customary farmland leases and illegal conversions into the formal system. This issue could prove a burden for the Democratic Party, which has already seen frequent internal defections on agriculture-related bills.
The steady stream of share cancellation decisions by pharmaceutical companies since the revised Commercial Act mandating such cancellations took effect also points to the direction of corporate policy. As the Assembly calendar interlocks budgets and bills, the key point of interest is whether the Rebuilding Korea Party's choice to stretch its manpower across concurrent committee seats will translate into real negotiating leverage. As the saying goes, leadership is proven by action rather than words — the presence of a minor party, ultimately, will be measured at the budget review table.
