Nat'l Assembly passes downsized 2025 budget bill
Next year's national budget is passed at the National Assembly in Seoul, Dec.10. Yonhap
The National Assembly on Tuesday passed next year's national budget of 673.3 trillion won ($471.5 billion) as cut by the main opposition party amid resistance from the ruling party.
The budget bill passed in a 183-94 vote with one abstention.
The revised budget, proposed by the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is 4.1 trillion won less than the government's initial proposal of 677.4 trillion won, following cuts in the government's reserve fund and the special activity expenses of the presidential office's secretariat and national security office, as well as those of the prosecution, the state audit agency and the police.
The DPK and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) have wrangled over the budget cut, with the PPP insisting on keeping the government's proposal.
It marks the first time in the constitutional history of Korea that a budget plan submitted by the government was passed in the plenary session without bipartisan agreement. (Yonhap)