Passage of 3rd extra budget unlikely this month

Rep. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the main opposition United Future Party, is welcomed by fellow lawmakers at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday, after returning from a nine-day retreat at temples to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's unilateral election of chiefs of six standing committees at the Assembly. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han

By Jung Da-min

It appears unlikely that the National Assembly will soon pass the bill on the 35.3 trillion won ($29.2 billion) third extra budget, designed to respond to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the continued conflict between ruling and opposition parties.

While the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the government hope to see the bill passed before the end of June to provide timely support to financially strained people and businesses, the main opposition United Future Party (UFP) made it clear it would not cooperate with the DPK, in protest of the ruling party's unilateral formation of six standing committees.

Since the launch of the 21st Assembly, the two major parties had been in a tug of war over how to form the 18 standing committees, with both sides looking to take the head positions of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, the most powerful committees for legislative activities for major policies.

After failed negotiations, the DPK, which had taken up a supermajority at the 21st Assembly with 176 of the total 300 seats, unilaterally held a plenary session, June 15, and elected the heads of six committees including the legislation committee.

Following the decision, UFP floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young went on a retreat, visiting various temples for nine days as a show of protest against the DPK's unilateral decision. Although Joo returned to the Assembly Thursday, he reaffirmed the UFP's position that it would not cooperate with the DPK in forming the rest of the 12 committees, instead preferring to let the DPK take the chief positions of all 18 committees.

“The DPK did not intend to cooperate with the UFP from the beginning, saying they could do whatever they want at the Assembly as they are a super majority,” Joo said during the party's meeting at the Assembly.

As to the government's third extraordinary budget bill, Joo implied the passage would not be easy as the opposition party would review it thoroughly.

“The bill includes too many unnecessary plans, when the government's first supplementary budget has yet to be fully implemented,” he said. “The 12 committees haven't been formed yet, so we cannot set the date for the review of the budget bill anyway.”

Technically, the DPK could unilaterally elect heads of the remaining 12 committees including the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, and review the budget bill. But political experts said the ruling party would face too much of a political risk and criticism for unilaterally operating the Assembly. The DPK could face even more criticism if it passes the bill in partnership with several minor liberal parties but the third extra budget fails to help the country overcome the economic crisis.

DPK floor leader Kim Tae-nyeon criticized the UFP for “playing tricks” to delay the passage of the budget bill. He said the party would hold a plenary session, Friday, to elect heads of the remaining 12 committees, whether or not the UFP participates.