According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the party's policy committee reported the plan to the supreme council on the 19th. Under current rules, 45 percent of the tobacco individual consumption tax funds fire-safety grants to local governments; funding wages from the general account would allow extra spending without amending the law.

Equipment support also under review

The committee also proposed raising the national subsidy rate for replacing aging essential equipment from 50 percent to 100 percent. A party official said the specific funding shares need negotiation between the party and the government. Party leader Kim Min-seok is reportedly set to meet fire unions on the 23rd.

Two amendments to the fire accounting law have been introduced in the National Assembly: one would have the state cover shortfalls in the personnel-cost account, and the other would make the state bear at least 80 percent of those costs. The Kyunghyang Shinmun analyzes the review as an effort to contain the row over the ‘straw’ remark raised during the parliamentary audit.

Weekly Kyunghyang and others reported that Gyeonggi Governor Chu Mi-ae likened fire services to a ‘troublesome fiscal straw’, and firefighters demanded an apology. The Kyunghyang report also noted that some in the party worry about her unilateral governance. However, the national funding ratio and timing are not settled, and the government's position did not appear in the reports we checked.