[Anchor]

Gyeonggi Provincial Governor Choo Mi-ae, who attended the funeral for the late firefighter Kim Jin-seok, issued another apology during a parliamentary audit. However, a new controversy erupted after it was revealed that Gyeonggi Province cut over 3 billion won from its firefighting budget in a supplementary budget proposal.

Reporter Choi Ho-won has the details.

[Reporter]

After attending the funeral for firefighter Kim Jin-seok, Gyeonggi Provincial Governor Choo Mi-ae moved to the National Assembly in the afternoon to undergo an audit by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.

During the audit, lawmakers slammed her previous remarks suggesting that the firefighting budget places a burden on provincial finances—referred to as the "firefighting financial straw" comment—as well as the apology she offered while paying her respects to the deceased firefighter.

[Kim Jong-yang / People Power Party lawmaker: "You say, 'I am apologizing because I was told to apologize.' Does that make any sense? This is nothing less than secondary victimization and another absurd remark."]br />
Governor Choo offered repeated apologies.

[Choo Mi-ae / Gyeonggi Provincial Governor: "I sincerely apologize to all firefighters who were hurt by my remarks. I take the dedication of firefighters more seriously than anyone else."]br />
The fact that Gyeonggi Province slashed 3.45 billion won in firefighting budgets—including funds for replacing aging fire engines, reinforcing various equipment, and holding memorial events for deceased firefighters—from its supplementary budget proposal also came under fire.

The provincial government explained that a 5.7 billion won decrease in government subsidies was the main cause, but the controversy has grown after it was revealed that Governor Choo had previously emphasized the need to reinforce firefighting personnel and equipment back in 2017 when she served as party leader.

[Choo Mi-ae / Former leader of the Democratic Party (December 2017, Jecheon fire scene): "I think on-site responses need to be properly reinforced with bolstered (firefighting) personnel, and the reinforcement of equipment also seems urgently necessary."]br />
Boo Seung-chan, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party, also defended Governor Choo and sparked controversy by using a phrasing practically identical to the "firefighting financial straw" expression.

[Boo Seung-chan / Democratic Party lawmaker: "Doesn't this (firefighting budget) really suck the life out of (local government) finances? Because of that, isn't there no answer if the national level fails to resolve this and people only resort to criticism?"]br />
Lawmaker Boo also refused to apologize as demanded by opposition lawmakers.

However, immediately after the audit ended, Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok issued a strict warning against Lawmaker Boo and ordered a direct investigation.