National power, party government's 'firefighting support through future response fund' is "just watering down Qi's nonsense"

On the 8th, the People Power Party criticized the government and ruling party's announcement that they would review firefighting budget support through the Future Response Fund, calling it "a trick to avoid Governor Choo Mi-ae's outrageous remarks."

Rep. Bae Jun-young, the opposition secretary of the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee and chairman of the Economic and Finance Subcommittee, posted on Facebook that day, "Budget support for firefighters, who are public servants, is a natural responsibility of the government," but pointed out, "It is not appropriate to pretend that normalizing this is a great thing."

Rep. Bae criticized, "The Chief of Staff of the President's Office mentioned support through the Future Response Fund, but the National Assembly Budget Office pointed out that excess tax revenue after 2029 is unclear," and added, "I doubt that supporting firefighters with the Future Response Fund, which is financed by excess tax revenue, is an intention to avoid it by making a fuss."

He then pointed out, “Through this incident, it has become clearer that the Future Response Fund is a ‘permanent supplementary budget’, a ‘fake reserve fund’, and a ‘pseudo-general accounting’ that aims to solve any problem on the spot.”

Rep. Yoo Sang-beom, the opposition party's secretary for the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Special Committee, also wrote on Facebook, "Budget support and improved treatment of national firefighters are a natural responsibility of the state. The People Power Party has already clearly presented a practical and sincere fire safety budget review framework, including a monthly increase of 500,000 won in hazardous work allowances, replacement of old firefighting equipment, and 2 trillion won in safety investments."

At the same time, he criticized, "The idea of ​​supporting the fire budget through the future response fund proposed by the government and the ruling party is nothing more than a half-baked prescription with a fancy packaging of financial resources, and is nothing more than a shallow trick to avoid Governor Chu's outrageous remarks and criticism."

In addition, he emphasized, "The salary of front-line firefighters will not increase by a single penny just through the wasteful debate over whether it is paid by the local government or the central government. Instead of staying with superficial measures, we must first discuss the urgent '500,000 won monthly increase in hazardous duty allowance'."

Previously, Lim Gwang-hyeon, the Chief of Staff in the Presidential Office, said at the High-Level Party-Government Council held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul that afternoon, "We will closely discuss with the National Assembly and review ways to provide additional support for next year's firefighting budget to expand essential firefighting equipment and facilities, as well as the use of the future response fund to secure urgent firefighting resources, and ways to use the tobacco consumption tax and local education tax."