Choo Mi-ae, National Power Provincial Councilor and financial crisis battle... Democratic Party leaves collectively

(Suwon = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Jong-ho = Ahead of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council's deliberation of the Gyeonggi Province's main budget for next year, Governor Choo Mi-ae appeared in the plenary session of the Provincial Council and had a war of words with a member of the People's Power Party over responsibility for the financial crisis.

At the second plenary session of the 395th regular session of the Provincial Council on the 4th, questions were asked by the executive branch to Governor Chu.

Bang Seong-hwan, representative of the People Power Party of the Provincial Council, who was the first to ask questions, first asked who was responsible for the financial emergency declared by Governor Chu.

In particular, Rep. Bang argued that Lee Jae-myeong was responsible based on the fact that local bonds and various fund borrowings had been made since the previous provincial administrations of Lee Jae-myeong and Kim Dong-yeon.

Governor Chu did not agree with this, saying, “We did not declare a financial emergency to hold someone responsible.”

Governor Chu avoided mentioning former governors despite repeated questions from Rep. Bang about responsibility.

During this process, members of the Democratic Party of Korea protested by shouting at Rep. Bang and then left the plenary room en masse.

The battle surrounding Governor Chu's recently controversial remarks continued.

Rep. Bang criticized Governor Chu, citing 'firefighting financial straws' and 'lump of debt pus' as examples.

Governor Chu refuted this, saying, “I had no intention of denigrating firefighters, but I am trying to define it through inquiries as if I did.”

He added, "If you look at the context, I made this statement to complain about the reality that it is putting a serious burden on the finances and cannot properly expand the people's welfare budget, but there were many misunderstandings, so I apologized with all my heart."

Regarding Gyeonggi-do's financial difficulties, when he said, "There were already lumps of pus everywhere," he explained, "I was metaphorically saying that the view that Gyeonggi-do is not in a fiscal crisis is true."

Governor Chu also clarified plans to issue local bonds and utilize funds in relation to next year's main budget plan.

Governor Chu responded, “We will secure as much available financial resources as possible, including funds,” and “We are also thinking about issuing local bonds as much as possible.”

This regular meeting will last for 45 days from the 3rd to the 17th of next month.

While Gyeonggi Province has not yet submitted its main budget, the provincial executive department plans to submit the budget on the 11th after consulting with the Provincial Council on the budget preparation process.

The legal deadline for processing the budget is the 16th of next month, 15 days before the start of the fiscal year.