Gov't to seek 4th extra budget over flood damage

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Hae-chan bangs the gavel during the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. The ruling party is reviewing a possible introduction of a fourth extra budget to deal with the damage from weeks of sustained rainfall. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The ruling bloc is reviewing the option of introducing a fourth extra budget, as many regions have been hit hard by weeks of heavy rain.

It signals a change from its earlier stance which was to refrain from seeking any more supplementary budgets, as the government has issued three this year, already raising concerns over fiscal soundness.

As the extent of damage from torrential downpours and landslides has been increasing, members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said, Monday, the government is urged to review the introduction of an extra budget to help with recovery.

The government currently has about 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) left in its emergency fund for this year after allocating money earlier to deal with the COVID-19 situation.

"The ruling party and the government will hold a high-level meeting as soon as possible to discuss recovery measures, including whether to pay out of the reserve fund or allocate another extra budget," DPK leader Lee Hae-chan said during the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly.

Another Supreme Council member Rep. Park Kwang-on called for a swift introduction of emergency funds to regions hit hard by the heavy rains. "The National Assembly should take the initiative to review an extra budget and propose it to the government if the remaining emergency fund is not enough to cover repair expenses," he said.

"The government introduced an extra budget of 4.1 trillion won in 2002 when the country was hit by a typhoon and another extra budget of 2.2 trillion won in 2006 for damage caused by another typhoon."

Political watchers expect the passage of the fourth extra budget to be processed smoothly as the need for another extra budget was first raised by opposition parties.

Minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo first proposed the idea last week during a party meeting. "We need to use the natural disaster relief fund and the emergency fund, but if it is not enough to cover the damage recovery from the continued heavy rains, we need to allocate an extra budget for natural disaster relief," Ahn said.

He said although the government has already introduced extra budgets three times this year, this time the extra budget for natural disaster relief would be different in its nature.

Kim Chong-in, emergency committee chief of the main opposition United Future Party (UFP), also expressed support for the idea, saying, "The flood damage is too severe and if there is no budget left for the damage recovery work, there is no other way than introducing another supplementary budget."

But political watchers also pointed out that a fourth extra budget would be a burden on the government's fiscal soundness. The National Assembly passed and the government approved a 35.3 trillion won third extra budget, the biggest-ever extra budget, just a month ago. The total amount of the three extra budgets reached 59.2 trillion won, and this pushed up Korea's national debt to 839.4 trillion won this year, up by 98.6 trillion won from last year.

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