PARTIES ARGUE OVER SOARING HEATING BILL

[Anchor Lead]

Rival parties' common topic of conversation during the Lunar New Year holiday was all about the 'economy'. However, they were still split on how to resolve related issues. In particular, rival parties locked horns over outrageous heating bills.

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The Democratic Party said the greatest issue during the Lunar New Year holiday was the outrageous heating bill. Gas prices were raised four times last year, causing household heating bills to more than double. The opposition party stressed the greater problem is that the government has no countermeasure although the gas price is expected to spike even more.

[Soundbite] Cho Jeong-sik(DP Secretary General) : "People are outraged at soaring prices but more so at the government’s lack of countermeasures."

The DP proposed setting up a disaster reserve fund for underprivileged populations and an extraordinary budget of 30 trillion won. The People Power Party held a press meeting later and accused the opposition of politicizing the high energy bill. It claimed that the gas price doubled or tripled during the Moon Jae-in administration, but the utility fee was raised only 13%, loading the price hike burden on the current government. The PPP also blamed the previous government's nuclear power phase-out policy.

[Soundbite] Sung Il-jong(PPP Policy Committee) : "By phasing out nuclear power, the DP gov’t passed much responsibility to the succeeding administration."

The PPP said spiking heating bills are a worldwide problem and promised to come up with measures for vulnerable people. But it shot down the DP's demand for a supplementary budget, calling it a politically motivated idea. The two parties argued over the Iranian government's response over President Yoon's remark that called Iran the enemy of the United Arab Emirates. The DP criticized that Yoon is the greatest threat to Korea's diplomacy and security. The PPP said the opposition is betraying the nation by turning the president's encouragement of troops into a diplomatic issue.