The Democratic Party of Korea published the 21st presidential election policy pledge book, which includes 'restructuring the Ministry of Economy and Finance,' on the 28th. Candidate Lee Jae-myung noted that the economic control tower organization, which he has been planning, will be significantly revised. Although there had been internal disagreements about including it in the pledge book, it is noteworthy that the details were specified with the candidate's approval after a review. They are also pushing for amendments to laws to align the terms of major public institutions, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, with the presidential term, aiming to eradicate 'the previous government's entrenchment.'
On the same day, the Democratic Party revealed a pledge book comprising 375 pages. They specified the '10 major pledges' previously submitted to the National Election Commission in detail by area and also published a separate pledge book for the 17 administrative districts. The reorganization of the Ministry of Economy and Finance is included in the section of the central policy pledge book titled 'overcoming internal conflict and restoring democracy.'
According to the pledge book, the Democratic Party declared that it would strengthen the National Assembly's budget deliberation rights by introducing measures such as ▲ reorganizing the Ministry of Economy and Finance to focus on the establishment and operation of economic policies ▲ enhancing democracy through extensive opinion collection during the establishment of economic policies ▲ strengthening the autonomy and responsibility of individual government ministries during budget formulation ▲ providing necessary information when preparing the government budget proposal ▲ and clearly specifying the scope and conditions for government agreement when reviewing budget increases.
The specific details of the so-called 'Ministry of Economy and Finance division' were not included in the pledge book. However, a proposal to separate the Ministry of Economy and Finance's budget authority has already been introduced under the names of Democratic Party lawmakers. Members of the Strategy and Finance Committee in the National Assembly have considered transferring the budget authority of the Ministry of Economy and Finance to the Presidential Office or the Prime Minister's Office. This consideration arises from the judgment that the Ministry of Economy and Finance, wielding budgetary power, dominates over other ministries. The revision of the government organization law is planned to undergo additional discussions in the future.
Candidate Lee Jae-myung also directly referred to 'budget function separation.' After appearing on the YouTube live broadcast 'K-Initiative TV: I teamed up with 14 million ants' that same afternoon, he met with reporters and said, 'It seems that we need to reorganize the Ministry of Economy and Finance,' adding, 'There is a need to separate the budget function.' He also mentioned, 'In the case of the financial sector, domestic financial policy is under the Financial Services Commission, while overseas finance falls under the Ministry of Economy and Finance,' stating, 'There is a mixture of supervisory and policy functions in the Financial Services Commission, so it is necessary to separate and organize them.'
The Democratic Party also specified content related to 'contingency funds,' which had clashed with the government and the People Power Party during the supplementary budget process. They decided to clarify the criteria for forming contingency funds to prevent excessive funding and to enhance the reporting requirements to the National Assembly to discourage the use of contingency funds. Additionally, as a measure for financial execution transparency, they included in the pledge book restrictions on 'transfers in/out between accounts and funds' and 'strengthening the conditions for transfers in/out between accounts and funds during financial execution.'
The Democratic Party will also limit the terms of heads and executives of major public institutions to the remaining term of the presidency. They decided that ▲ the remuneration of public institution executives will reflect performance on the basic salary and ▲ that they will include adjustments to the functions of public institutions, changes in major shareholders, and plans for disposing of shares in the medium- to long-term financial management plan to report to the National Assembly. The party leadership had previously stated that there are many instances of 'entrenchment of public institutions' under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and that they would include measures to eradicate this in the presidential campaign pledges.