Budget subcommittee kicks off on the 16th... Full-blown ruling-opposition battle begins
The launch of the budget subcommittee (a subcommittee of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, the small-group meeting where the National Assembly actually reviews the budget bill) on the 16th has set off a full-blown ruling-opposition battle both inside and outside the National Assembly. The first gateway for processing the budget bill has opened. According to political sources on the 15th, the Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts will convene the Budget Bill Adjustment Subcommittee from the 16th to the 27th to conduct substantive reviews of cuts and increases in next year's budget, and will vote on the bill at a plenary committee meeting on the 30th. The statutory deadline for passage in the full Assembly is Dec. 2.
The biggest point of contention in the budget review is the Future Response Fund, sized at 16.2 trillion won. The People Power Party has branded it the president's "slush fund" and is preparing steep cuts. The Democratic Party is resisting, arguing it is a fund for pursuing debt reduction and growth investment simultaneously.
PPP members of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee have been boycotting the committee's schedule since the 9th in protest against the ruling party's push to pass special counsel bills, and are likely to maintain their refusal to attend ongoing issue inquiries. The PPP plans to hold regional denunciation rallies starting in Busan on the 14th, followed by Daegu on the 21st and Daejeon on the 28th.
In response, Democratic Party spokesperson Son Myung-su criticized the opposition for "abandoning the budget National Assembly and launching street protests that mock the president under the pretext of special counsel bills." PPP spokesperson Ham In-kyung fired back in a statement: "They created the 'special counsel to acquit Lee Jae-myung,' then deleted the power to revoke indictments and claim there's no problem. Who do they take for fools?"
A confirmation hearing for National Police Agency chief nominee Kim Jong-chul will be held on the 18th. The Public Administration and Security Committee approved the hearing plan and the lists of witnesses and reference persons with bipartisan agreement on the 11th. A hearing for KBS President nominee Lee Tae-hyun will follow on the 24th, with hearings for Justice Minister nominee Lee Yong-chul and National Tax Service Commissioner nominee Ahn Deok-su also set to take place within two weeks.
Confrontation between the ruling and opposition parties is expected to intensify around the bill's promulgation. In particular, even if the prime minister brings the special counsel bill to a State Council vote, the president's countersignature is required for actual promulgation, so conflict over the timing of promulgation could persist.
