Democratic Party lawmaker's fire budget remark prompts leader's warning, probe order

On 19 October, Democratic Party lawmaker Boo Seung-chan said at the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's audit of Gyeonggi Province, held at the Gyeonggi provincial office, that fire services "really suck up" finances. He was defending Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae over her "fiscal straw" remark, saying she had made a big mistake but had apologised enough. [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]

Boo said about 90% of fire service personnel and support costs are borne by local governments even though firefighters are national-level civil servants. He added that if the problem is not solved at the national level and there is only criticism, there is no answer, and that Gyeonggi also needed to explain and make an effort. Chosun Ilbo noted that most of the budget is still borne by local governments after fire service staff became national civil servants in 2020. [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Eun-hye said the funeral of Fire Lt. Kim Jin-seok was held that day and that the words should never have been said, and she demanded an apology to the public and firefighters. Boo declined. He told her to look at the context, said he had asked whether the National Assembly bears responsibility after the service became national-level, and called the criticism a way of using the issue in political fighting. [ 1 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]

Shouting broke out between ruling and opposition lawmakers and the audit was briefly halted. Kyunghyang Shinmun put the stoppage at about three minutes. Dong-A Ilbo said Bok Gi-wang of the Democratic Party tried to mediate. [ 2 , 5 , 6 , 9 ]

The Democratic Party said in a notice that party leader Kim Min-seok had given Boo a stern warning and ordered the central ethics tribunal to investigate the circumstances of the remark. A Dong-A Ilbo summary instead said Kim had ordered a review of disciplining Boo. [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 11 , 12 ]

Choo had said on 13 October, at the Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Gyeonggi, that fire services are "like the biggest, headache-inducing fiscal straw". On 17 October, after visiting the wake of Kim Jin-seok, who died fighting a factory fire in Bucheon, she apologised using the phrase "since you want an apology, I apologise with all my heart", which drew further criticism. On 19 October she apologised again before and during the audit. People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jong-yang called her wake apology secondary harm. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 9 ]

On 20 October, the Korean Government Employees' Union fire headquarters held a press conference outside the Gyeonggi provincial office demanding a direct apology from Choo, and called for an investigation into Kim Jin-seok's death. Choo was due to meet the union at 4 pm. SBS reported that Gyeonggi cut 3.45 billion won from fire service spending in a supplementary budget and attributed it mainly to a 5.7 billion won fall in national funding. [ 12 , 14 ]