Rival parties agree to pass 4th extra budget bill

Sep 23, 2020, 08:19 am

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Democratic Party floor leader Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon (left) and People Power Party floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young attend an opening ceremony of “National Assembly Open Studio” held at the National Assembly in Seoul on Sept. 15, 2020./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Lim Yoo-jin

South Korea’s rival political parties have reached an agreement on the 7.8 trillion-won (US$6.7 billion) extra budget bill in a plenary meeting on Tuesday. They agreed to selectively offer a deduction on monthly mobile service fees and expand child-rearing support to include middle school students in the fourth supplementary budget. The government is expected to be able to distribute the emergency assistance package before the Chuseok holiday, which falls on Oct. 1 this year. It marks the first time in 59 years for the government to allocate four extra budgets in a single fiscal year.

“The government has been fully prepared to execute the supplementary budget amount,” said President Moon Jae-in during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “Once the budget bill is approved, I will make sure that most of the support can be provided before the Chuseok holiday,” he said. “I hope we can alleviate the difficulties of the people who are suffering from the pandemic as soon as possible.”

Under the agreement, a 20-thousand-won mobile service subsidy will be offered selectively to people aged 16 to 34 and those aged 65 and older. The ruling party had previously suggested providing the deduction to everyone aged 13 or older, but the plan has been scaled down. As a result, the related budget has been cut to some 520 billion won from 920 billion won.

With regard to free influenza vaccinations for all previously demanded by the main opposition, the rival parties agreed to vaccinate free flu shots to 1.05 million people in vulnerable groups. A separate budget has been assigned for stocking up on COVID-19 vaccines to cover 20 percent of the nation’s population.

Child-rearing support, which initially consisted of offering 200-thousand won per child for families with children attending elementary school or younger, will now include 150-thosand won for every child attending middle school.

The 1-million-won support for self-employed taxi drivers will be expanded, now including drivers affiliated with a company. Two million won will be provided to businesses that adhered to the government’s quarantine regulations.

The government also allocated 470 million won to protect children in a blind spot for childcare, reflecting the recent incident where two young brothers were seriously injured trying to boil ramen while their parents were not at home.

Earlier in the day, the floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party and the main opposition People Power Party reached the deal at the National Assembly.

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