Although the new Assembly was convened on May 30, the official event to inaugurate the Assembly was indefinitely delayed for about 95 days — the longest since 1987 — due to a boycott by the ruling People Power Party (PPP). The PPP opposed the Democratic Party's (DP) push for a bill to conduct a probe aimed at impeaching Yoon.
Held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, the opening session set the stage for upcoming debates on the government's 2025 budget proposal of 677 trillion won (US$505 billion), a 3.2 percent increase from this year. But the DP is pushing for major cuts, criticizing the current administration’s policies to lowers tax revenues, which it believes benefit the wealthy.
Contention is also expected over several key bills, including a proposal for cash handouts of 250,000 Korean won ($186) per citizen and a bill calling for an investigation by an independent counsel into the drowning of a Marine during a rescue operation last summer.
Ahead of the Assembly's opening, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon and DP leader Lee Jae-myung held their first official talks on Sunday, showing rare bipartisan cooperation on some livelihood-related issues, though they failed to agree on several key points.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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