Growth to top Park’s agenda [Korea Herald 에서 발췌]

President Park Geun-hye urged the rival parties Wednesday to support her government’s economic stimulus plan for next year. 

박근혜 대통령이 수요일 내년도 정부 경제 부흥책을 지원해 달라고, 새정치 민주연합 당에게 역설했다.

“Now is the last golden time for the country to rebuild its economy (as we are standing) at the crossroads between achieving another leap forward and falling into stagnation,” Park said in her 42-minute-long speech at the National Assembly, urging parliamentary approval of the 2015 budget.

박근혜 대통령은 국회에서 42분동안의 연설에서 "지금이 대한민국이 한발자국 더 도약하느냐 침체의 늪으로 떨어지느냐 기로에서서 경제를 리빌드 해야하는 적기이다. 2015년 예산을 승인해 주기 바란다고 말했다. (직역은 어렵군... 굉장히 한국적인 영어기사이다.)

“If we fail to deal with both external and internal challenges, we will face a long-term, painful stagnation and lose the driving forces to re-establish the economy,” she said, listing key economic risks including low growth, low inflation and a weak Japanese yen. 

박근혜 대통령은 "만약 우리가 내외적으로 놓여있는 과제를 처리하지 못하면, 장기적으로 아픈 침체에 직면할것이고, 경제를 다시 살려낼 동력을 잃어 버릴것이다" 라고 말했다. 그리고 낮은 성장, 낮은 인플레이션과 일본의 Yen의 약세가 이런 중요한 경제의 위험적인 요소라고 했다.

In the nationally televised speech, the president said that her government will expand its spending next year by 5.7 percent from this year, and will also risk further budget deficits, in order to stimulate the country’s sluggish economy.

텔레비전에서 중계된 연설에서, 대통령은 정부가 내년엔 올해보다 5.7퍼세트 예산을 증가시킬것이라 하였고, 또한 침체된 경제를 부흥시키기 위해서 예산적자를 감당할 것이라고 하였다.

Park also called for the swift passage of the public pension reform bill and requested rival parties to expedite its approval. 

박대통령은 또한 공적 연금의 개혁안을 빠르게 통과시킬것을 요구했고, 상대당에 빠른 승인또한 요청하였다.

“The public pension reform is an urgent issue,” she said, stressing a snowballing deficit in the pension fund and growing concern for the taxpayers’ financial burden.

“If we don’t renovate the system now, we will end up passing the burden to the next government and future generations,” Park said. “I ask for the parliament’s support to complete (the passage) of the reform (bill) within this year.”

The president’s budget speech came amid escalating tension between her and her party over an attempt to open discussion on constitutional amendments. Park’s visit to the parliament was expected to have an impact on the continuing political wrangling over a list of controversial bills, including the one aimed at launching an independent probe into the sinking of the Sewol ferry.

Most of her speech was dedicated to seeking parliamentary support for her reform measures that are being delayed by the prolonged political deadlock. The president, however, didn’t comment on political reform or the Sewol incident, at her speech. Park, instead, asked the parties to approve pending bills aimed at improving the people’s livelihood, rooting out corruption in officialdom and boosting the safety across the country.

Also mentioned in the speech was her desire to conclude the ongoing free trade deals with China, New Zealand and Vietnam. The president asked the rival parties to ratify the two free trade deals already signed with Australia and Canada, noting that the further delay in parliamentary approval will cause great losses to Korean exporters.

In her second parliamentary address since taking office in 2013, she sought parliamentary support to pass next year’s budget by the Dec. 2 legal deadline.

Members of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy joined the others in giving a standing ovation to Park as she entered the Assembly hall. But a majority of the opposition members remained quiet during her speech, even as the ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers applauded 29 times. 

After the speech, the president met leaders of the two main parties.

Her move was seen as an attempt to seek a breakthrough in the prolonged political deadlock between rival parties and build momentum for the passage of her bills, which have been stalled since early this year.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)