Party and government "Financial support of 2 trillion won for essential investment in firefighting... review of alleviating local burden"

“Reflection of the budget for expansion of fire suppression equipment, training facilities, and firefighting-specialized medical systems.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Choi Pyeong-cheon and Ahn Jeong-hoon = The central government has decided to review financial support worth 2 trillion won for urgent essential investments related to firefighting.

The Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House held a high-level party-government consultation meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence in Samcheong-dong, Seoul on the 8th to discuss ways to ease the financial burden of local government firefighting, Park Seong-joon, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a briefing to the National Assembly.

Currently, the national fire budget accounts for only around 10%. Although the status of firefighters was converted to a national position in 2020, local governments are bearing a significant portion of the firefighting budget.

The party and government also decided to reflect the necessary budget for fire suppression equipment, training facilities, and expansion of fire-fighting specialized medical systems in next year's budget deliberation process.

Chief Spokesperson Park explained, “We will prepare financial resources for firefighting financial support ranging from financial support of 2 trillion won plus alpha to beta.”

Considering local financial difficulties, the party and government also discussed ways to expand the amount of available financial resources for local governments next year by utilizing this year's excess tax revenue.

Chief Spokesperson Park explained, "During the National Assembly review of the budget plan, we decided to finalize the specific scale of support through close consultation between the party and government." He added, "The party and government agreed on the need for more fundamental expansion of local finances, such as the phased transfer of national taxes to local taxes and office redistribution, and reactivated the government-wide fiscal decentralization task force to quickly continue discussions."

Previously, Minister of Public Administration and Security Yun Ho-jung expressed his position regarding the issue of firefighting finance shortage due to the decrease in fire safety grant tax, saying, "I hope that the urgent lack of firefighting resources will be covered by expenses supported from the local account of the Future Response Fund."