National Assembly to vote on government's 2018 budget

Описание: 새해 예산안, 오후 본회의서 처리…예결위 심사 지연 탓
We start with the long-awaited breakthrough at South Korea's parliament.
After rival political parties on Monday reached a tentative agreement over the budget for next year,... the revised bill will be put up for a full-floor vote today.
Three days late,... but it seems the budget bill is on course to get the green light.
For more,... we connect to our political correspondent Kim Min-ji, standing by at the National Assembly.
Kim Min-ji,... we hear the budget vote has been delayed?

That's right, Mark.
The National Assembly was supposed to vote on the 2018 budget proposal during a plenary session this morning.
However,... the parliament's budget committee is still fine-tuning the details of the proposal,... so as of now it seems vote will take place later in the afternoon,.. or in the evening.
((The plenary session however convened as planned -- where lawmakers voted on subordinate budget bills.
The meeting has adjourned for now,... and will resume once the proposal is ready.))
In order for the budget to pass,... it requires majority support.
The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is short of a majority with 121 seats,... so cooperation from the opposition is essential.
The budget vote comes three days after the legal deadline of December second came and went.
The three main political parties reached a tentative agreement last night,... which came after marathon talks.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party said despite the compromise, they are still opposed to key contentious issues.

Yes, in fact, the agreement came after grueling talks lasting days -- and there had been quite a few sticky points. Walk us through the compromise they reached on Monday.

Well, the most contentious issue had been the creation of public sector jobs.
The ruling party had initially wanted to add more than 12-thousand,... while the opposition demanded the figure be slashed.
Rival parties finalized the figure at 9,475... and that the labor force in the public sector also to be redistributed.
Another area of contention was the 2-point-7 billion dollars to be set aside for small companies to cushion the fallout from next year's hefty minimum wage hike.
Rival parties agreed to keep the budget as it is for 2018,... but said the cash support will be changed to indirect forms, like tax cuts."
The stability fund for 2019 cannot exceed the figure set aside for next year.
For child benefits and basic pensions,... the rival parties agreed to have the programs start later in the year,... as well as change the criteria for those eligible.
As for the much-disputed tax reform proposal -- they agreed to raise the corporate tax rate to 25 percent... for businesses with taxable profit of more than 300 million dollars,... instead of the 200 million proposed by the government.
That's basically the gist of it,... now we will have to wait what decision the parties actually make.
Back to you.


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