National Assembly Rejects Special Account Amendment for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Villages... Kim Younghwan Opposes "Illegal Transfers"

Rejected by the National Assembly Following Opposition Speech by Kim Younghwan

The amendment to the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Village Structures Act, which aimed to expand the scope of transfers from the Agricultural and Fishing Village Special Tax Project Account to the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, from the local autonomy account to the entirety of the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, was rejected at the plenary session of the National Assembly on October 1.

The nomination consent bill for Supreme Court Justice candidate Kim Seongsu is passing the plenary session of the National Assembly on the 17th. The nomination consent bill for candidate Kim was approved with 227 votes in favor, 28 against, and 13 abstentions out of 268 members present. 2026.09.17 Photo by Yoon Dongju

At the plenary session on the same day, the National Assembly voted down the amendment bill to the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Village Structures Act, which was sponsored by Assemblyman Lee Gaeho of the Democratic Party of Korea. Out of 222 members present, 94 voted in favor, 60 against, and 68 abstained. It was an unusual case in which a bill brought to the floor through bipartisan agreement was rejected at the plenary session.

Earlier, Assemblyman Kim Younghwan of the Democratic Party took the floor to argue against the bill. He asserted, "This amendment seeks to retroactively legalize transfers between accounts that have taken place over the past three years — transfers that lacked any legal basis and were inconsistent with the original intent of supporting farmers and fishermen." He further explained, "Transfers were only permitted to the Local Autonomy Account within the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, as it served the purpose of supporting agricultural and fishing regions."

Assemblyman Kim continued, "Over the past three years, repeated transfers were made to the Regional Support Account within the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, even though such transfers were not stipulated by law." He added, "The Regional Balanced Development Special Account is meant for large-scale projects such as facilitating interregional economic zones, expanding infrastructure like transportation and logistics networks, fostering and investing in new industries, job creation projects, and strengthening the competitiveness of local universities. Since these are nationwide initiatives rather than those targeting specific regions, it is more appropriate for the general account to fund them."

He pointed out that, in the meantime, funds were transferred from the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Village Structures to the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, while the general account's budget for the Regional Support Account within the Regional Balanced Development Special Account was reduced accordingly. Assemblyman Kim stated, "For the 2026 fiscal year spending plan, a total of 5.4 trillion won was transferred from the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Village Structures to the Regional Balanced Development Support Account, while the budget of the latter was reduced by 4.5 trillion won." He concluded, "In the end, the Special Account for Improvement of Agricultural and Fishing Village Structures was used essentially as a substitute for the general account."

Assemblyman Kim emphasized, "The reason Korea was able to rise as a manufacturing powerhouse is thanks to the past sacrifices made by farmers and fishermen." He added, "Because this bill would undermine the national fiscal system and weaken the purpose for which exclusive taxes and special accounts were established, I oppose this amendment, which I see as a hasty and patchwork fix implemented after the fact."

Previously, Assemblyman Lee Gaeho had explained, when proposing the bill last December after the law was rejected, that "the bill was introduced to ensure stable implementation of regional projects, including improvements in medical conditions in agricultural and fishing villages."

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