Budget speech for next year is the leader’s duty

If the president avoids the budget speech this time, it will inflict serious damage on his leadership.

President Yoon Suk Yeol reportedly plans to let Prime Minister Han Duck-soo read the script of his speech on the government-proposed 2025 budget on his behalf. When asked about the address slated for Nov. 4, a senior presidential secretary said, “Nothing has been decided at the moment.” Given the delicate nuance, his comment suggests a possibility of the prime minister replacing the president for the speech.

The budget speech constitutes a political act by the president to appear before the legislature, explain the direction of the government’s budget plan for next year and request lawmakers’ help in approving it. In the past, presidents themselves delivered the speech in the first year of their presidency followed by prime ministers reading the script on their behalf later on. But sharp criticisms erupted against such a practice of “disrespecting the legislature.” President Park Geun-hye accepted the criticism and delivered the speech from 2013. That tradition continued for 11 consecutive years.

It is the president’s duty to directly explain to the representatives of the people how the government will spend the 677-trillion-won ($492.2-billion) budget. It also reflects the executive branch’s respect for the legislative branch.

If President Yoon is reluctant to deliver the speech, it is probably due to the majority opposition’s rough words and actions. As happened in his budget speech last year, Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers held pickets to oppose the president in front of the main chamber of the Assembly — with some of them even wearing a black face mask in a show of their resistance against the president. After the president tried to shake hands with one of them, the lawmaker brazenly said, “Why don’t you just step down?” Given their growing demand for his impeachment, no one knows what will happen this time.

But the president must deliver the speech regardless. If DP lawmakers hurl insults at the president, he can just brush them off. Past presidents also suffered derogatory remarks from the opposition during and after the speech. Yoon has become the first president who didn’t attend the opening ceremony of the new legislature last month since the constitutional amendment in 1987. If he avoids the budget speech this time, it will inflict serious damage on his leadership.

We also urge the DP to show respect to the head of state at the official event even if it is bent on mounting political attacks on him. If the country’s constitutional order is to be maintained, the opposition’s regard for the president is essential. Only then can our lawmakers be respected by the people. If members of the opposition cross the line this time, it will suffer a strong backlash from the public.