2008 Budget to Be W256 Trillion; Zaytun to Stay in Iraq for Another Year

On December 28, the National Assembly held a plenary session and approved both the budget bill for 2008 and the extension of Zaytun’s stay in Iraq.

National Assembly settled the government budget for 2008 at 256.1007 trillion won. This amount is smaller by 1.1993 trillion won than the draft bill handed in by the government totaling 257.3 trillion won.

The amount of budget newly allotted by the National Assembly is 2.4767 trillion won, and the amount cut is 1.2774 trillion won.

In comparison with the government draft bill by category, while the budget was reduced in education by 226.6 billion won and in social welfare by 165.2 billion won, it was increased in research and development (R&D) for small and medium enterprises by 200 billion won, R&D for the development of new energy by 100.0 billion won, and in the construction of parks in 28 conventional markets by 28 billion won.

The National Assembly also passed the Approval on the Extension of Government Army’s Operation in Iraq and the Task Termination Plan, which extends the termination of Zaytun unit’s stay in Iraq by a year from the end of this year to the end of 2008.

Approval for the troops’ extended stay was passed with a vote of 146 for, 104 against and six abstentions out of the votes of 256 assemblymen despite the opposing stance of United New Democratic Party. 16 UNDP assemblymen voted against not following the party stance, and 5 abstained.

The approval bill contains changes to the original plan, from the withdrawal of all 1,250 soldiers by the end of this year, to leaving 650 of them by December 2008. 600 Zaytun soldiers have already returned.

The National Assembly concluded all the schedules for this year with the plenary session as the final activity and closed the year afterwards.

leon@donga.com