Park Hong-keun vows 'bone-cutting' spending overhaul: 'Now or never'

Minister of Planning and Budget Park Hong-keun said Monday that a sweeping restructuring of government spending must happen this year or not at all, pledging bold expenditure cuts as the government prepares next year's budget.

Speaking at an open forum on expenditure restructuring held at SVC Seoul in Mapo-gu, Park said cutting existing budget allocations is a highly difficult task but vowed that the ministry would lead the charge and see it through.

Park said the 2027 budget will be the first spending plan drafted entirely under the Lee Jae Myung administration, and pledged to review every fiscal program from scratch — targeting a 15 percent reduction in discretionary spending, a 10 percent cut in mandatory outlays, and the elimination of 10 percent of all programs.

He said unnecessary expenditures must be cut decisively while the government invests boldly in growth engines and works to spread the benefits of that growth across generations, regions and social strata.

The forum centered on the need to restructure major mandatory spending programs, including the local education finance grant, unemployment benefits and the basic pension.

Lee Jeong-hwan, a professor at Hanyang University, said the local education finance grant continues to fund event-driven projects despite a shrinking school-age population, and called for reform of the current system, which ties the grant to domestic tax revenue. Yoon Dong-yeol, a professor at Konkuk University, raised the problem of repeat unemployment benefit claims, noting that in some cases benefit payments exceed earned wages — a so-called "reversal phenomenon" — and proposed strengthening safeguards in the system.

Seok Jae-eun, a professor at Hallym University, said the income gap among basic pension recipients is widening and recommended narrowing the eligibility pool while boosting support for low-income beneficiaries.

Participants also discussed a range of measures to improve fiscal efficiency, including consolidating overlapping or duplicative support programs and phasing out low-performing ones.

The event was the first public forum the fiscal authorities have held specifically on expenditure restructuring, organized to incorporate public input into the budget process and broaden channels of communication.

About 100 people attended, including citizens, experts, civic group representatives, journalists, and officials from central government ministries and local governments. The forum was also livestreamed on KTV and the ministry's YouTube channel.