(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on March 28) - Waste no time

The National Assembly is set to open a session next Wednesday, focusing on an urgent stimulus bill.

But no smooth proceedings are guaranteed, as political parties are widely split on their proposals for parliamentary operations. Sharing
a sense of urgency about the economic crisis leaves much to be desired.
Earlier this week, the administration finalized its request for 28.9 trillion
won, ($20.9 billion) a huge amount equivalent to 1.9 percent of gross domestic
product. The "super" bill is five to six times as large as usual supplementary
budget bills the administration drafts to finance recovery from disasters such as
floods and droughts.
This time, the disaster is a global economic crisis, one perceived by Koreans to
be similar in magnitude to, or even more serious than, the Asian financial
meltdown the nation experienced a decade ago. As such, a usual amount of money
will not do. One renowned domestic think tank said earlier that Korea would have
to spend as much as 50 trillion won in its fight against the crisis.
Korea has employed a massive fiscal stimulus as a tool for combating the threat
of an economic collapse, just as the United States, China, Japan and many other
countries have done. The Korean administration aims at kick-starting a virtuous
cycle of stimulating aggregate demand for a recovery, creating jobs and
increasing household income when its budget request is approved.
Timing is crucial here. Even if the budget bill is approved during the April
parliamentary session, the administration will not be able to start drawing it
down before June. There are time-consuming procedural matters it needs to address
before starting budgetary allocations.
With only four days left until the opening of a parliamentary session, however,
the ruling Grand National Party and the main opposition Democratic Party have yet
to agree on parliamentary operations. While the opposition party insists that the
conventional rule be followed, the ruling party demands operational changes that
would facilitate the passage of the budget request.
The ruling party proposes that the upcoming session do away with the usual
addresses made by negotiating group representatives and that the period of
interpolation be cut short. Instead, the party says, more time should be spent on
committee sessions focusing on the budget request.
The proposal is sensible. The National Assembly will have to clear the way for
the administration to take action as soon as possible. It is urgent to subsidize
low-income families, protect existing jobs, create new ones, provide financial
assistance for small and midsize business enterprises and launch other recovery
projects.
At this very moment, some businesses, which could remain afloat with a little
help from the government, are making deep cuts in their payrolls for survival or
closing shop for good. As a result, workers are being forced out of their jobs
and family income is dropping.
Nonetheless, the main opposition party demands business as usual when it comes to
parliamentary operations. It claims the upcoming session would be seriously
flawed if it were to proceed as demanded by the ruling party.
Another potential obstacle to swift action is a criminal investigation into a
bribery scandal. The opposition party claims that the investigation targets some
of its lawmakers and that the ruling party and the presidential office are
attempting to exploit the investigation to their advantage ahead of the April 29
by-elections.
But partisan interests are of little concern to the general public. What ordinary
people demand is an early recovery, greater job protection and an increase in
their income. Lawmakers are urged to keep this in mind when they deliberate on
the budget request. They will also have to ensure that even the last won be put
to use in this endeavor.
(END)