South Korea’s parliament passed a record-high budget bill for 2022, amounting to 607.7 trillion won (514 billion U.S. dollars).
The final budget package was up 3.3 trillion won (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) from the government proposal in a bid to expand support for the damages caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
The bill was passed through the National Assembly by 159-53, with 24 abstentions. The ruling Democratic Party owned a majority of 169 seats out of the unicameral assembly’s total 295 seats.
The main conservative opposition People Power Party objected to the defense ministry’s 7.2 billion won (6.1 million U.S. dollar) budget to build a light aircraft carrier.— Xinhua
