Democratic Party lawmaker Moon Jin-seok said on the 2nd that now is the time for a supplementary budget, not partisan fighting, and that President Lee Jae-myung made clear the urgency of passing the package in his address to the National Assembly.
On his Facebook page, Moon wrote that the crisis triggered by the war in the Middle East will not resolve itself if we simply wait it out.
He warned that the economy faces such acute uncertainty that even short-term forecasts are difficult, and said what is needed now is a proactive, bold response. Unexpected crises always strike the hardest and most vulnerable first.
He described this supplementary budget as intended to strengthen protection for society's most vulnerable. At the same time, he called it a "debt-free" package that does not require issuing government bonds, and a "responsible" budget that addresses the crisis with accountability.
He urged the National Assembly to act, saying the success of crisis response ultimately depends on speed. The longer approval of the supplementary budget is delayed, the greater the public's suffering and the more likely we are to miss the golden window for response.
"We have no time to hesitate when people's livelihoods are at stake," he added, calling for cooperation rather than partisan bickering and urging both the ruling and opposition parties to move quickly to approve the package.
Earlier, in his address, President Lee said the supplementary budget is both a breakwater to protect citizens from the waves of crisis and a springboard for South Korea's recovery, and he asked the National Assembly to swiftly approve the so-called "war supplementary budget," a roughly 26.2 trillion KRW (19.65 billion USD) package.
The ruling and opposition parties plan government questioning on the 3rd, 6th and 13th; the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee will conduct comprehensive policy questioning and departmental reviews on the 7th and 8th; and the plenary session is scheduled to vote on the supplementary budget on the 10th.
