Commerce, Industry and Energy's 'Honam Semiconductor Budget' battle... “Isn’t there even a draft?” “Guaranteed autonomy”

野 “Exemption from pre-taping… There are concerns about delays in construction of substations in other regions”

“We support projects in line with local conditions… even when building a budget, we allocate a budget before reviewing its adequacy.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Hee-won = The ruling and opposition parties fought over the budget for integrated financial support for the creation of a semiconductor cluster in the southwestern region during the budget deliberation of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, Small and Medium Venture Business Committee on the 9th.

Regarding the integrated financial support project to provide a total of 6 trillion won to Jeonnam and Gwangju Unified Special City by 2030, starting with 1.5 trillion won next year, Rep. Ja-geun Koo of the People Power Party, the opposition party's secretary, asked Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-gwan, "Shouldn't we bring a draft of the fund operation plan to the National Assembly before the budget deliberation?" and "Trillion units will be invested, but shouldn't we just execute the budget and see what happens after that?"

He also pointed out, “The state can exempt the preliminary feasibility study, but the amount and scale of it are too enormous,” adding, “Previous governments’ preliminary feasibility study exemption projects were about 30 cases a year, but under this government, there are already more than 60. This is ignoring procedural legitimacy.”

Rep. Kim Do-eup of the same party criticized the government's plan to divert transformers from five substations nationwide to the Honam semiconductor cluster, saying, "Honam Semiconductor is good, but isn't it the government's job to delay the construction of substations in other regions to shorten the construction period?"

People Power Party lawmaker Jo Ji-yeon also pointed out, "Doesn't it take 2 to 3 years to order, manufacture, and verify new ultra-high voltage transformers?" and added, "If we aim to supply semiconductor power to Gwangju by 2028, isn't the only way to take away transformers from other businesses?"

On the other hand, Jeon Eun-soo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, countered, "There are concerns about how the amount of support is determined without specific project demands. This project is not a way for the central government to directly build individual infrastructure, but to support the Unified Special City to discover and promote projects according to companies' investment demands and local conditions."

He added, "Even during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, there were cases where budgets were allocated in advance for pre-tax exemption projects before reviewing the adequacy of the business plan."

Representative Lim Moon-young of the Democratic Party said, "There are cases where integrated subsidies have been provided in Changwon and Cheongju, and this time, Jeonnam Gwangju is the only one in the country to be integrated, and this budget supports the preparation of infrastructure and industrial ecosystems." He added, "It is comprehensive support for regional-led growth, and does not mean that support (to semiconductors) should be provided unconditionally."

Meanwhile, the opposition party pointed out that the fact that executives in the trade sector of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy did not attend the meeting, including the government audit, was a red flag in the field of diplomacy and trade.

Representative Koo Ja-geun said, "Today, the head of the Trade Negotiation Headquarters went to Hungary in a hurry, and with the new government in Hungary, problems are arising with our companies stopping operations or being fined."