Korea’s Yoon denounces calls for cash-based government spending

President Yoon Suk Yeol makes a statement at the national fiscal strategy meeting on June 28. [Photo by Yonhap]

President Yoon Suk Yeol strongly criticized the call for more cash-based state spending, calling it “typical looting of future generations” and stressed that “vote-conscious welfare budget should be thoroughly rejected” as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has been advocating for a 35 trillion won ($26.7 billion) supplementary budget.

Yoon’s remarks are interpreted as a sign that he will not tolerate reckless spending that could undermine fiscal stability.

“In the last one year, we have definitely shifted to a sound fiscal stance from the previous government’s reckless indulgence,” Yoon said while speaking at a national fiscal strategy meeting Wednesday. He condemned the opposition party and the previous administration, saying “Some still insist on increasing cash fiscal expenditures even at the cost of debt. There is no political power that likes austerity and sound fiscal policies that are unpopular. If they truly care about the country and its people, not their political ambitions, austerity and fiscal consolidation are inevitable.”

Yoon said that the government’s fiscal management framework is “sustainability” and emphasized that “it is not just about reducing expenditures, but spending them properly where they are needed.” He also said that “ridiculous political subsidies should be eliminated, economic subsidies be well utilized and social subsidies be streamlined and rationalized. Spending and investment should be used to strengthen the essential functions of the state, such as national defense and law enforcement, protect the truly vulnerable, expand the future growth engines of our country and create quality jobs.”

After the four-hour and 40-minute discussion, Yoon said that the fiscal strategy is a “discussion of national management from a different angle, because fiscal management is a reflection of national management. If you are a political force that truly loves the country and its people, you should go on a fiscal diet for the sake of the country even if you may lose in an election.”