South Korea: Democratic Party to introduce downsized 2025 budget bill in plenary parliamentary session

Seoul: South Korean main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said on Sunday that it will introduce a downsized budget bill for next year in a plenary National Assembly session this week after the party railroaded the proposal through a parliamentary committee despite the ruling party's boycott.

DP floor leader Park Chan-dae unveiled the plan two days after his party, which holds a parliamentary majority, pushed the 2025 budget bill through the parliamentary special committee on budget and accounts, defying objections from the ruling People Power Party, Yonhap news agency reported.

The budget proposal puts next year's budget at 677.4 trillion won ($485.3 billion), down 4.1 trillion won from the initial plan proposed by the government.

"The DP has inevitably decided to introduce the reduced budget bill in a plenary meeting on Monday, the legal deadline (for the bill's passage)," Park said in a press conference.

The floor leader called the move an "extraordinary" measure to "normalise" state housekeeping, emphasising his party's efforts to block a tax cut for the superrich and slash the budgets for state agencies wielding power.

The budget cut affects the whole amount flagged for 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.

It also halves the government's 4.8 trillion-won reserve fund to 2.4 trillion won.

The ruling party has denounced the move as "neutralising the functions of the prosecution, the police and the state audit agency" by cutting such budgets, claiming such a vote is only aimed at shielding DP leader Lee Jae-myung, who faces several trials.

Park left open the possibility of a revision to the budget bill, saying, "There is sufficient room for further negotiations if the government and the ruling party show a forward-looking attitude."

DP Chair Lee echoed the stance, saying, "The government can submit a revised bill if necessary," while meeting with North Gyeongsang Province Gov. Lee Cheol-woo, who requested a budget increase for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be hosted in Gyeongju next year.

The statutory deadline for approving the national budget is December 2, but the National Assembly has managed to meet it only twice in the past two decades.

Meanwhile, the DP floor leader also revealed his party's decision to delay taxation on virtual assets by two years, as the ruling party has insisted, but said that the party seeks to vote down a bill on easing inheritance and gift taxes.