The Fire Officials' Division of the Korean Government Employees' Union has issued a statement demanding an apology following Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae's remark describing firefighters as a "fiscal straw."
In a statement released yesterday (October 14), the union criticized Governor Choo's remarks made at a parliamentary audit, calling them "an insulting act that severely tarnished the honor of the 70,000 firefighters nationwide."
Previously, during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee audit of Gyeonggi Province the day before yesterday (October 13), Governor Choo made the comment while responding to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Kwon Young-jin regarding local government fiscal crises.
[Choo Mi-ae / Governor of Gyeonggi Province: As the lawmaker mentioned, the fire service seems to be the biggest and most troublesome fiscal straw. For labor costs alone, it is set to eat up 1.1 trillion won in 2027, and project expenses will be around 500 billion won.]
She further explained, "Combined, fire service labor costs and project expenses amount to 1.7 trillion won."
The union fired back, stating, "She dismissed firefighters, who run day and night to protect the lives and safety of citizens, as a mere source of budget waste and a fiscal burden," adding that "fire service labor costs and project expenses are essential costs directly tied to public safety."
The union urged Governor Choo to "offer an immediate and sincere apology before the 70,000 firefighters for tarnishing their honor with remarks such as 'fiscal straw' and 'eating up' [budgets]."
As the controversy grew, Gyeonggi Province issued an explanation, stating, "The remarks were intended to emphasize the reality that local governments still shoulder most of the related financing despite the conversion of firefighters to national civil servants, while state funding proportions are actually decreasing."
The province added, "We deeply appreciate the hard work of Gyeonggi Province's fire service officials and will strive to secure stable funding for the fire sector."
(Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Kim Na-on | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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