South Korea's Finance Minister Choi Seeks President's Veto on Budget Proposal Bill

Seoul, Nov 28 (NationPress) South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok stated on Thursday that he will request President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto a legislative revision that would eliminate the automatic forwarding of the government's budget proposal to the plenary session if a bipartisan consensus is not achieved by the deadline.

Earlier today, the Opposition-controlled National Assembly approved a revision to the National Assembly Act, which removes the system of automatically forwarding the government's budget proposal and related Bills if they do not clear parliamentary standing committees by November 30, as reported by Yonhap news agency.

'If this system is revoked, the parliamentary standing committees responsible for budget evaluations will no longer have any deadlines, which greatly raises the risk of missing the constitutionally mandated deadline of December 2,' Choi commented during a press briefing.

The legal deadline for ratifying the national budget is December 2, yet the National Assembly has only managed to meet this deadline twice in the last two decades. Currently, opposing parties are embroiled in a stalemate over the government's fiscal plan for the upcoming year, raising fears of yet another missed deadline.

'As the minister in charge, I am deeply disappointed by the unilateral approach taken regarding this legislative amendment,' Choi expressed, indicating his intention to urge the President to exercise his constitutional power to veto the revision.

The automatic forwarding provision was established in 2014 to avoid legislative deadlock, Choi highlighted.

Since assuming office in May 2022, Yoon has utilized his veto power 12 times, rejecting a total of 25 Bills amid confrontations with the Opposition-controlled National Assembly.