Opposition parties rocking budget, lethargic ruling party...Shall we keep the legal deadline?

[Anchor]
A budget bill to drastically cut some budgets of government agencies, including the Korea Communications Commission, was voted on by the opposition party alone at the National Assembly Standing Committee.

While the ruling party has been absent from the vote in opposition to this, some point out that the opposition party's dominance and the ruling party's lethargy remain in the budget situation.

I'm reporter Hong Min Gi.

[Reporter]
The National Assembly and the Defense Council voted on the 2025 budget plan for four competent agencies, including the Korea Communications Commission.

The opposition party cut about 200 million won, saying that annual salaries such as the chairman are unnecessary budgets at a time when the standing members of the KCC remain vacant.

[Hwang Jung-ah / Minjoo Party member: Lee Jin-sook and Ryu Hee-rim's labor costs, operating expenses, illegal litigation expenses, and all budget details dedicated to this (all should be cut)]

Among the budget of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the project, which was suspected of being related to First Lady Kim Gun-hee, was drastically cut.

People's Power protested that the opposition party used the number of seats as a weapon to cut the budget bill to neutralize government projects, and did not participate in the budget vote.

[Choi Soo-jin / People's Power] I don't think that government budget projects made up of people's taxpayers' money can be swayed by the general tyranny of big opposition parties. This is an act that undermines the essence of representative democracy....]

The opposition party also increased the budget for the dog food end project, which had previously vowed to cut, by nearly 110 billion won, calling it "Kim's project."

Now that each standing committee has entered a full-fledged budget subcommittee, the size of the final budget may change, but it is analyzed that the opposition party continues to dominate the budget following the parliamentary audit.

On top of that, the opposition party has not budged from its position to push for unnecessary budget cuts until just before the deadline for the budget bill to be processed.

[Yoon Jong-gun / Minjoo Party's floor spokesman (19th): Without being bound by the deadline, unnecessary budgets will be drastically reduced....]

However, there are criticisms that the ruling party is also repeating its lethargic appearance of repeating its absence and exit from the vote without properly presenting a bargaining chip to persuade the opposition party.

[Kim Jong-hyuk / Supreme Council member of People's Power (last 18th): (The Democratic Party) is likely to turn the National Assembly into a venue for retaliation by breaking down the budget review with a majority of its numbers]

As the ruling and opposition parties continue to be parallel again in the budget situation, there are many concerns that the court deadline, which is due on the 2nd of next month, will be exceeded this year.

I'm YTN's Hong Min Gi.