Coffers overflowing yet debt surges by over 100 trillion won... The 821 trillion won budget, to be paid by the youth

Total expenditure for the 2027 budget hits a record high of 820.9 trillion won... Expenditure growth rate at 12.8% during a boom period

Next year's national tax revenue reaches 584 trillion won, up 194 trillion won (49.8%) from this year... National debt at 1,520 trillion won

People Power Party: "Cut 104 trillion won of surplus funds from the Future Response Fund to repay national bonds"... A 134 trillion won cut proposal

Democratic Party: "A bold future investment in semiconductors, AI, and youth"... Full-scale review begins after the policy speech on the 2nd

If national debt swells the most in the year the government's pockets are fullest, whose card will be used to pay the difference? On the 1st, the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts began its full-scale review of the 2027 budget bill, totaling 820.9 trillion won in total expenditures. The expenditure growth rate stands at 12.8%, which the opposition party points out is the highest level in history, even surpassing the financial crisis period. The legal deadline for processing the budget bill is December 2.

The rhetoric of the ruling and opposition parties clashed head-on. In a written briefing that day, Democratic Party Senior Spokesperson Park Sung-joon defined the Lee Jae-myung administration's budget bill as "a bold future investment to restart the growth engine by intensively investing in future technologies such as semiconductors and AI, youth, and region-led growth," while accusing the People Power Party of populist agitation and obstructionism. People Power Party Senior Spokesperson Choi Bo-youn countered, saying, "Next year's national tax revenue will increase by 194 trillion won (49.8%) compared to this year, yet national debt will swell by more than 100 trillion won to reach 1,520 trillion won, making it a blank check that passes the bill to future generations." The People Power Party plans to submit a 134 trillion won budget cut proposal this week, which includes using 104 trillion won in surplus funds from the Future Response Fund to repay national bonds.

The core issue is not the scale, but the structure. Out of the 162.3 trillion won Future Response Fund, project costs account for 45.4 trillion won while the rest is accumulated as surplus financial resources. The government's proposal allows 30% of this to be diverted at will without parliamentary approval. This is why the opposition party calls it another slush fund budget. The fact that the budget for reporting rewards has jumped eightfold from 32.4 billion won this year to 254.6 billion won next year has also sparked controversy over public monitoring budgets. Meanwhile, national debt interest exceeding 110 billion won per day continues to pile up without a break.

The more youth appear at the forefront of budget sentences, the more the bill needs to be reopened and inspected. Today's active fiscal policy will be repaid tomorrow through youth taxes and national debt interest. For a budget that piles on more debt in a bumper year when national tax revenue increases by 49.8% to be called a future investment, the safety valve of parliamentary review must at least be upheld. In the budget political landscape leading up to the presidential policy speech on the 2nd and the comprehensive policy inquiries on the 4th and 5th, the youth generation is not a spectator, but a joint debtor.