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Unsightly bickering between presidential office, Seoul gov't over preschool program budget

Unsightly bickering between presidential office, Seoul gov't over preschool program budget

Posted February. 06, 2016 07:20,   

Updated February. 06, 2016 07:25

한국어

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon told a radio talk show on Friday that Hyun Ki-hwan, President Park Geun-hye's senior secretary for political affairs, should apologize to Seoul citizens for having raised his voice at him after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The mayor claimed that Hyun yelled at him after he sparred with the president over the controversial budget for providing a free preschool program for children aged between three and five. The Presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae rebutted the Seoul mayor's claim, saying they were in no atmosphere for yelling with the president's presence. However, it seems that they had an argument.

According to the arguments by Cheong Wa Dae and the Seoul Metropolitan Government about the Cabinet meeting, the Seoul mayor said the central government's education grants to local governments was not sufficient for the preschool program. Rebutting his argument, the president said that at a meeting among the central government and local government heads and education chiefs last year, he had supported a proposal to include the preschool program budget into the education grants to local government. The Seoul mayor then said that there were differences over the education budget, proposing that the president convene another meeting to seek a fundamental solution.

The Seoul mayor does not have a voting right at the Cabinet meeting but has the right to speak. Mayor Park is a party involved in a growing conflict between the central government and regional education offices over who should finance the program, he has the right to express his opinion as the head of a local government, which is affected by the budget. If the mayor and the president had an open-minded debate and clearly identified the differences, it could help resolve the conflict. It is a shame that the president's aide raised his voice at the Seoul mayor and that the deputy prime minister held news briefings to criticize the mayor as if they were competing to show their loyalty to the president. A Cabinet meeting is not a place where ministers do nothing but taking down the president's instructions.

However, it was not courteous for the Seoul mayor, who attended the Cabinet meeting as an observer, to cut in on the meeting and have debates. At another Cabinet meeting in December last year, the mayor argued with government ministers over Seoul's plan to pay 500,000 won (417.54 U.S. dollars) to young job seekers. At the latest meeting, he found fault with the president's inaccuracies about year and names of previous meetings she mentioned and argued that he had not agreed to a proposal to include the preschool program budget into the education grants to local government.

Regarding the budget for the preschool program, it is difficult to take either one's side between the central government and local government offices. It is true that the central government increased its education grants by 1.3 trillion won (1.1 billion dollars). However, the amount is far less that the 4 trillion won (3.3 billion won) required for the preschool program. President Park's 2012 campaign pledge to expand the program has added fiscal burdens to local education offices. However, the education offices should also actively allocate extra budget caused by decreased numbers of students to the pre-school program. The central government and local education offices should be more open-minded to the each other in order to find a right solution.



송평인기자 pisong@donga.com