Minister Park Hongkeun: "Future Response Fund Proposal Including Grant Reform to Be Announced Soon"

Minister of Strategy and Budget Hongkeun Park stated, "We will soon announce a proposal to launch the Future Response Fund, which includes a plan to revise the Local Education Financial Grants." Regarding criticisms of discord within the government caused by differences with the Ministry of Education over the grants, he dismissed the concerns, saying, "Debate between ministries is an entirely normal process."

Park Hong-geun, Minister of Planning and Coordination, is speaking at the local, essential, and public healthcare meeting chaired by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House on the 22nd. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 13th, through his social media account, Minister Park stated, "We are in the final stages of negotiations with the Ministry of Education on the revision of the grants, which will be included in the soon-to-be-announced plan to create the Future Response Fund."

Currently, the Local Education Financial Grants are structured so that 20.79% of domestic tax revenue is automatically allocated. However, as the school-age population has recently plummeted while tax revenue has surged due to the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, there have been calls to reform the method of determining the grants.

As a result, the Ministry of Strategy and Budget and the Ministry of Education have continued discussions on the reform plan. Despite opposition from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Strategy and Budget has reportedly decided to move forward with a government plan to abolish the automatic linkage with domestic tax revenue. Instead, a system that guarantees the grant's growth rate based on the nominal growth rate is being strongly considered. This proposal is expected to be released next week at the Fiscal Management Strategy Committee meeting chaired by Minister Park.

Minister Park said, "Regarding concerns that the government is not acting in unison, I deeply resonate with President Jaemyung Lee's remarks at the cabinet meeting." He added, "The point that 'if cabinet ministers debate and argue, the public will have less cause to fight amongst themselves' is a precise description of the situation our ministries are currently facing."

He continued, "By nature, policy leaves room for theory and different opinions; that's what makes it policy," and added, "It would not be right for the public if outcomes were predetermined and resolved behind closed doors."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.