Former Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon pushed back against Governor Choo Mi-ae's assertion that expansionary spending under his administration caused the province's worsening finances. It was Kim's first official response since Choo publicly criticized his fiscal management.
In a Facebook post titled "I Fulfilled My Responsibility Through Expansionary Fiscal Policy" on the 15th, Kim said the province's tight finances and attributing the cause to his administration's expansionary spending are two separate matters. "Expansionary fiscal policy was not a mistake but a responsible choice," he wrote.
Choo had criticized the previous administration's expansionary spending on the 2nd, when asked at a Gyeonggi Provincial Council session about the causes of the province's fiscal difficulties. She called it "an unusual and loose operation to deplete funds and issue local bonds five times in a short period."
Kim said he had held back from commenting to respect the new administration's time to set its policy direction and to avoid adding unnecessary controversy for residents and the party. "The basic principle of fiscal management is for public finances to step in even at the cost of deficits when the economy and household livelihoods are struggling, and to adjust spending and rebuild reserves once the economy recovers," he said.
He said expansionary fiscal policy was a consistent principle running through both the seventh and eighth elected administrations, the former led by Lee Jae-myung. The seventh faced the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, while the eighth confronted the "triple crisis" of high interest rates, high inflation and a high exchange rate, compounded by the Yoon Suk Yeol government's fiscal tightening and revenue shortfalls. "If Gyeonggi Province had also cut spending in that situation, the burden would have fallen entirely on residents," he said.
On the local bond issuance and fund use that Choo criticized, Kim said the province had not simply taken on debt but invested in residents' lives and the province's future. "The eighth administration protected support for livelihoods, care services, local currency and small business owners while continuing investment in the future, including semiconductors, renewable energy and the social economy," he said. "Where resources fell short in that process, we supplemented them through local bonds and borrowing from funds."
Kim said the local bonds issued under the Local Finance Act and the fund operations were used for road, railway and river projects, as well as the province's share of the central government's relief payments for high fuel prices.
Responding to criticism that some livelihood programs were budgeted for only nine months of this year, Kim said the move did not mean the programs would end after nine months. He said the plan was to reassess revenue conditions in a supplementary budget in the second half of the year and to supplement the remaining funding by reducing or adjusting less urgent projects.
Kim drew a clear line against defining the province's current finances as a crisis. "Gyeonggi Province's debt-to-budget ratio in 2025 was 12.86%, lower than the 15.52% average for all cities and provinces nationwide and well below Seoul's 21.62%," he said. "It also falls far short of the 25% caution threshold set by the central government."
"A fiscal crisis should not be declared based on the increase in debt alone," he said. "Considering the scale of Gyeonggi Province's finances and its medium- to long-term conditions, the level is manageable if revenue expansion, spending adjustments and systematic repayment management are pursued together."
Kim said he shared Choo's concern that the province's weak revenue structure needs improvement. "If there were shortcomings in individual projects and their execution under the eighth administration, I will accept that evaluation. I will not deny that debt increased," he said. "But I do not believe it was wrong to deploy public finances to protect residents when the economy was struggling and livelihoods were shaken."
