Finance minister urges parliament to finalize 2025 budget bill amid political chaos

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok urged the National Assembly on Monday to expedite finalizing next year’s budget amid a legislative impasse caused by the fallout from last week’s botched martial law declaration.

Choi made the appeal during a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik while visiting parliament.

“To maintain external credibility and ensure economic stability, it is essential to promptly finalize the budget through bipartisan agreement,” Choi told reporters after the meeting. “I requested the assembly speaker to demonstrate strong leadership in breaking the deadlock in negotiations between the ruling and opposition parties.”

Discussions on the 2025 budget proposal have largely stalled following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law last Tuesday, which was overturned by the National Assembly just hours later.

Last month, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) railroaded a downsized budget bill in the parliamentary budget committee, aiming to pass it during a plenary session. Speaker Woo, however, had put the plan on hold, calling on rival parties to find a compromise.

Since the martial law debacle, budget discussions have completely stopped. The DP is now pushing to pass its version of the budget in another plenary session scheduled for Tuesday.

The current bill proposed by the DP puts next year’s budget at 677.4 trillion won (US$485.3 billion), down 4.1 trillion won from the government’s initial proposal, while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) insisted on keeping the government’s proposal.

On Sunday, the DP announced an additional proposed cut of 700 billion won, primarily targeting salaries for presidential officials.