The National Assembly on Monday began deliberations on the government’s 556 trillion won ($502.12) budget for next year.

The parliament’s Special Committee on Budget and Accounts held its first meeting Monday to tackle the government’s spending requests.

The Moon Jae-in administration drew up the 555.8 trillion won budget bill for 2021, up 8.5 percent from 2020’s budget, with a focus on creating new jobs and reinvigorating the economy, which is struggling as a result of the prolonged coronavirus pandemic.

The parliamentary committee will spend the next two weeks deliberating the budget bill in discussion with related ministries and agencies before sending it for a general review by other committees and a final plenary vote.

The National Assembly has until Dec. 2 to decide whether to approve the budget.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and opposition parties are expected to debate the 21.3 trillion won set aside for government-led projects under the Korean New Deal initiative.

Opposition lawmakers have called the amount excessive, questioning the feasibility of the Green New Deal, which aims to nurture local digital and green industries as new drivers of growth in the post-pandemic era.

The ruling party has said the New Deal initiative must be funded as proposed, holding that cuts to the budget could undermine Korea’s chances of bringing about an economic recovery after the pandemic.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)