Acting President Choi Sang-mok exercised his veto power on Tuesday to block the passage of a bill that would have extended government subsidies for high school education for three more years.

During a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Choi stressed that the veto does not mean the government is rejecting support for free education, but said it is asking the National Assembly to revisit the issue and come up with better policy alternatives.

The main opposition Democratic Party introduced the bill to revise the Local Education Subsidy Act and passed it unilaterally at the National Assembly on December 31.

The bill would have extended by three years the period during which the central and local governments shared the cost of providing high school education for free with the country’s regional education offices. 

The Ministry of Education and the ruling People Power Party had requested reconsideration of the bill.

Choi said the government plans to provide 72-point-three trillion won, or about 49-point-five billion U.S. dollars, for local education in 2025, an increase of 34 trillion won over last year.

He said if the funds are used effectively, local governments will have enough to cover the cost of providing high school education for free.

The acting president said that if the government supplied the additional funds, it would make efficient national fiscal management more difficult and would only increase the burden on the public.