Budget talks delayed amid martial law turmoil

[Anchor]

Today (12.9), ahead of the resumption of budget negotiations in the National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok visited the National Assembly Speaker to request a breakthrough.

Speaker Woo Won-shik pointed out that the delay in processing the budget is due to the martial law turmoil.

Reporter Kim Yu-dae has the details.

[Report]

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok visited the National Assembly.

He came to appeal for the prompt confirmation of the budget, but his expression was serious.

During a closed-door meeting that lasted about 30 minutes, Deputy Prime Minister Choi requested Speaker Woo Won-shik to take the lead in resuming discussions on next year's budget, which is currently at a complete standstill.

[Choi Sang-mok/Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance: "To maintain external credibility and economic stability, it is necessary to promptly confirm the budget through an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, so I requested the Speaker to take the lead in facilitating negotiations with strong leadership."]

Previously, the National Assembly exceeded the legal deadline for budget processing for the fourth consecutive year after extreme confrontations over an unprecedented 'budget reflecting only cuts.'

Speaker Woo Won-shik, who had urged both parties to prepare an agreement while withholding the budget proposal, reportedly told Deputy Prime Minister Choi not to shift the responsibility for the delay in processing the budget onto the National Assembly.

He stated that the martial law turmoil, which attempted to arrest the Speaker of the National Assembly and others, has hindered discussions on the budget.

Speaker Woo's position is to address the budget issue in the 'ruling and opposition party talks for the suspension of presidential duties' that he proposed.

However, with the ruling party's leadership currently vacant, the Democratic Party is determined to process the budget cuts during the last plenary session of the regular National Assembly tomorrow (12.10), making the prospects for negotiations bleak.

The Democratic Party is reviewing a 'revised budget cut plan' that further reduces the existing cut plan by 700 billion won, which already cut 4.1 trillion won, and it is currently possible for the unprecedented budget cut to pass through the National Assembly.

However, behind-the-scenes negotiations between the ruling party and the opposition are underway, raising the possibility that tomorrow's plenary session schedule may be postponed.

This is KBS News, Kim Yu-dae.