Gyeonggi Province Supplementary Budget Passed... Governor Choo Mi-ae Attends First Parliamentary Audit

[Anchor]

With the restoration of some livelihood budgets, including postpartum care subsidies, Gyeonggi Province's supplementary budget bill has passed the provincial assembly. Governor Choo Mi-ae, a six-term lawmaker, attended the parliamentary audit for the first time.

Reporter Choi Ho-won has the details.

[Reporter]

The National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held a parliamentary audit at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office.

Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae attended the audit site for the first time as the head of a metropolitan local government.

As Governor Choo has clashed with the presidential office, including openly opposing Kim Ji-yong, the nominee for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency, lawmakers from her own Democratic Party of Korea are also expected to continue with sharp questioning.

Controversies such as Governor Choo's 1.2 billion-won official residence lease contract and the cuts to livelihood budgets are also expected to come under scrutiny.

Interpretations arose that President Lee Jae-myung's social media post saying, "Enjoying luxury while cutting public livelihood welfare budgets," was aimed at Governor Choo. The previous day, Governor Choo attended the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly and emphasized the province's financial difficulties.

[Choo Mi-ae / Gyeonggi Governor (Yesterday): We put out the immediate fire, but the problem is next year. Because available financial resources are very scarce, the fiscal conditions for next year are expected to be very severe.]

Earlier, the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly voted on a supplementary budget bill for Gyeonggi Province totaling 42.2053 trillion won yesterday (October 12).

[Nam Jongseob / Speaker of Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly (Democratic Party): We acknowledge that finances are difficult. However, I want to say that the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly did not give up and did its utmost to protect the livelihood budget.]

A budget of 21.7 billion won, including postpartum care support programs, small business big-sale support programs, and daycare center operating expense support programs, was restored. Meanwhile, People Power Party lawmakers in the provincial assembly strongly protested, claiming that the Democratic Party and the provincial executive branch unilaterally discarded the 42.9 billion won restoration budget bill agreed upon by both ruling and opposition parties.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.