Budget minister Park says holiday discount aid will not come from Future Response Fund

Minister of Planning and Budget Park Hong-keun (박홍근) said on 8 October that holiday discounts on agricultural, livestock and fishery products will not be funded from the Future Response Fund (미래대응기금) and that other funding sources will be used. He spoke at the ministry's audit by the National Assembly's Finance, Economy and Planning Committee in Yeouido, Seoul, answering People Power Party lawmaker Bae Jun-young (배준영). Asked whether the fund would not be used next year, Park said "Yes" and that the support "does not fall under" the fund. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]

The question followed remarks by President Lee Jae-myung at a 29 September cabinet meeting. According to Newsis, Lee noted that the discount budget, about 100 billion won at first, had been raised to 190 billion won for this Chuseok, suggested expanding it to nearly 1 trillion won and said the Future Response Fund could be used. Kukmin Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo reported that this raised a dispute over whether holiday discounts fit the fund's purpose of finding future growth engines and investing in new industries. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 7 ]

Park said he understood the president had spoken generally without knowing the fund's detailed programmes, and took the remark to mean the fund also had spare resources. He said holiday-related spending had already been budgeted this year, including through changes to fund operations. Chosun Ilbo read his answer as effective opposition to the president's proposal. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]

The fund, which the government is creating at 162 trillion won, was debated throughout the audit, Kukmin Ilbo reported. Park called it a key tool for a cycle in which active fiscal policy drives growth that raises tax revenue. Opposition lawmakers called it the president's "pocket money" that weakens parliament's budget review power. Before the audit, People Power Party committee members attached printouts opposing the fund to their laptops and argued with committee chairman Cho Seung-rae (조승래), who told them to remove them; the audit opened late after the ruling party objected, Maeil Business reported. [ 1 , 2 ]

Democratic Party lawmakers Lee Choon-suak (이춘석) and Jung Tae-ho (정태호) raised concerns that less money would go to local governments. Park said next year's local allocation tax would be 77.2 trillion won, up 11.3%, reaching 101 trillion won in 2028, and asked lawmakers to look at the total through 2030. On this year's excess tax revenue, which Kukmin Ilbo put at about 63 trillion won and Chosun Ilbo at about 88 trillion won, Park said it would first go to cutting October government bond issuance by 5 trillion won and that further use was not yet decided. [ 1 , 4 , 9 ]

Park also called regular allowances paid to Supreme Court justices without legal basis, which the Board of Audit and Inspection had flagged, an inappropriate use of the budget, and said the item would be reviewed when the National Assembly examines the budget. [ 1 , 6 , 8 , 9 ]