[iNews24 reporter Ahn Young-rok] The People Power Party’s Chungbuk provincial chapter sharply criticized the Democratic Party after an iNews24 report (May 4) said the Cheongju City Council, led by Democratic Party members, fully eliminated the budget for a Chungbuk National University Hospital program to subsidize essential medical staff allowances that Cheongju City had proposed during the eighth local-government term. “The last spark sustaining Chungbuk’s essential medical system has been extinguished,” the party said.
On May 5, the People Power Party said in a statement that, during the budget review, the head of Cheongju’s Sangdang Public Health Center pleaded, “Doctors will come only if we at least provide this allowance.” Democratic Party councilors, however, cut Cheongju’s entire share of ₩200 million (about $150,000), citing insufficient legal grounds and concerns about fairness.
The party added that while the Democratic Party pointed to a lack of legal basis, other local governments — including Gangwon and North Jeolla provinces — have precedents in which provincial and municipal authorities cooperated to provide such support to protect residents’ right to life.
The People Power Party urged the Democratic Party’s candidates for Chungbuk governor and Cheongju mayor to acknowledge that they were silent while their party’s councilors weakened the essential medical system, rather than only raising alarms now. It called on them to recognize that the budget was directly tied to residents’ lives and to offer genuine reflection.
Earlier, in 2024, Cheongju City and Chungbuk Province launched an “essential medical staff allowance” program intended to halt staff departures at Chungbuk National University Hospital — particularly in obstetrics-gynecology and pediatrics — and to prevent a collapse of core medical services.
At the hospital’s request, People Power Party Chungbuk assembly members Choi Jeong-hoon and Ahn Ji-yoon spearheaded the plan. After consultations between Chungbuk Province and Cheongju City, it was designed as a matching-funds initiative.
However, unlike the Chungbuk Provincial Council, the Cheongju City Council’s Health and Environment Committee (Chair Byeon Eun-young) saw Democratic Party members move to cut the project’s entire budget of ₩302.4 million (about $226,800) — including Cheongju’s ₩200 million (about $150,000) share — during the budget review, effectively terminating the program.
The issue resurfaced in local politics after a woman in her 30s in Cheongju, unable to find a hospital that could handle an emergency delivery, was airlifted to Busan; the fetus later died. The episode has become a significant point of contention ahead of the June 3 local elections.
