Jang Dong-hyeok meets firefighters, vows to boost national funding for fire services

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok said Tuesday he would go through next year's budget line by line to substantially increase national funding for fire services and replace aging equipment without delay.

Jang made the pledge at a National Assembly forum titled "Dialogue with Fire Civil Servants for a Safer Workplace," saying he would expand research to protect firefighter safety, strengthen institutional support and ensure that injured firefighters and their bereaved families receive adequate assistance.

"It has been six years since fire civil servants were transferred to national employee status, yet national funding still accounts for barely 10 percent of the fire services budget," he said. "While the central and local governments have been locked in a budget tug-of-war, nearly 40 percent of equipment has exceeded its replacement cycle."

"Firefighters' lives ultimately depend on safety infrastructure," Jang said. "If politics continues to neglect this situation, tragic accidents will inevitably keep repeating themselves."

Policy committee chairwoman Lim Yi-ja, who also attended the event, said the dedication of firefighters who rush into flames without hesitation must never be met with empty words alone. She said the next fiscal year's budget would firmly reflect fire safety spending — including the distribution of advanced safety equipment, replacement of outdated gear and meaningful improvements to working conditions — as top priorities among the key budget increases the party intends to secure.

Hong Sun-tak, chairman of the National Fire Safety Civil Servants' Union, said firefighter safety is inseparable from public safety and that protecting their lives and rights is a duty of the state.

He urged the government to strengthen national fiscal responsibility for fire services, establish an independent commendation system, expand frontline staffing and enhance support for firefighters killed in the line of duty and their families.

Shin Dong-geun, chairman of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions' civil servants federation, directed his remarks at Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae's widely criticized comment likening fire service finances to a "fiscal straw." "No politician should politically belittle or carelessly speak about the sacrifices and hard work of fire civil servants," he said, urging the party to take special care that firefighters on the ground feel supported and that their morale does not suffer.

Meanwhile, Jang took to Facebook on Tuesday to lash out at President Lee Jae Myung over remarks in which Lee suggested that Agriculture Minister Song Mi-ryeong had proposed conducting a comprehensive farmland survey, calling the comments "irresponsible."

"When things go wrong, he now blames the minister," Jang said. "When it suits him, he conveniently forgets — selective amnesia." He said farmland transactions had already dried up and prices had collapsed, and demanded that Lee first apologize for the botched comprehensive farmland survey.