Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae attributed the province's current fiscal crisis not to President Lee Jae-myung's term as governor, but to the use of the integrated fiscal stabilization fund and the issuance of local government bonds under former Governor Kim Dong-yeon.

Responding to a question from People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Jong-young during a questioning session on provincial administration at the 2nd plenary meeting of the 393th extraordinary session of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly today (September 2), Governor Choo said, "The 8th popular election administration issued local bonds five times in a short period in addition to using funds, which is very unusual."

In response to a follow-up question asking whether President Lee Jae-myung and former Governor Kim Dong-yeon bore responsibility, she answered, "President Lee reduced the inherited debt of about 70 billion won, so he bears no responsibility. However, the 8th popular election administration depleted various funds and issued local bonds five times in a short period, and there are several projects that can be confirmed as excessive or lax."

To the question, "Should we understand that the 7th popular election administration bears no responsibility while the 8th does?", she responded evasively, saying, "Regardless of whether there is responsibility or not, it is deeply regrettable that fiscal issues were not properly addressed."

Earlier, during questioning by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Tae-hee, Governor Choo specified the period between 2023 and 2025 during former Governor Kim Dong-yeon's tenure, stating, "The problem was pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy during a time when fiscal management was necessary."

Governor Choo repeatedly emphasized the severity of the fiscal crisis.

She said, "Incheon, which has a much smaller population than Gyeonggi Province, has assets of 64 trillion won, whereas Gyeonggi Province has only 43 trillion won, and Gyeonggi's debt growth rate is excessively fast. Acquisition tax is our main revenue source, but the era of real estate development has ended, and with 13 cities and counties designated as land transaction permit zones, the outlook is grim."

Governor Choo also engaged in a war of nerves with lawmakers regarding the gravity of the fiscal crisis.

Addressing lawmaker Kim's argument that Gyeonggi's fiscal crisis is somewhat exaggerated based on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's fiscal indicators—which show Gyeonggi's debt ratio at 15%, ranking 12th among 17 metropolitan local governments—she raised her voice, saying, "That indicator is a cover-up and an optical illusion; in reality, local bonds have been issued and funds are depleted, leaving nothing to lean on. Waiting until others diagnose it as a crisis is not responsible administration."

To the criticism that there was no communication with the Provincial Assembly when declaring a fiscal emergency, she retorted, "I know about it because I received reports, but the lawmakers have already approved the issuance of local bonds five times."

She also asked back, "Regarding the failure to compile three months' worth of budget this year, the Provincial Assembly could have said beforehand that it was wrong. Shouldn't you have let me know about that first?"

In response to lawmaker Yoon, who pointed out, "Doubts linger that there might be an ulterior motive behind declaring a fiscal emergency, and we cannot shake the suspicion that you will pursue campaign promise projects using financial resources secured through expenditure restructuring," Governor Choo cut him off, stating, "There is no ulterior motive at all, and the idea that we intend to create leeway after paying off debts to pursue campaign promise projects is 100 percent wrong."

Meanwhile, the extraordinary session of the Provincial Assembly, which opened the previous day, will run through September 18.

The assembly is scheduled to deliberate and vote on an extra budget bill amounting to 42.242 trillion won—which reflects 546.5 billion won in expenditure restructuring—along with other ordinance bills.

(Photo: Yonhap News)