Cultural Heritage Administration's Budget to Increase by 4.6% Next Year

1.1416 Trillion KRW... 17.5 Billion KRW More Allocated Than Submitted Budget
Increased Funding for Cultural Heritage Restoration, World Heritage Preservation, and Cultural Asset Management

On the 25th, at the plenary meeting of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held at the National Assembly, the inquiry into the settlement bill of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Cultural Heritage Administration began with only Lee Byung-hoon of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was asking questions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and Lee Yong of the United Future Party, who was next in line to ask questions, remaining in the room while the other members left the meeting hall. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on the 3rd that its budget for next year has been finalized at 1.1416 trillion KRW. This amount is 4.6% higher than this year's 1.0911 trillion KRW. It is 17.5 billion KRW more than the 1.1241 trillion KRW budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly. Additional funding was allocated mainly for cultural heritage management. This includes 13 billion KRW for cultural heritage restoration and maintenance, 2.3 billion KRW for World Heritage preservation management, and 1 billion KRW for small-scale emergency buried cultural heritage investigation support projects. New projects include the establishment of a cultural heritage repair history database (DB), operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) station for cultural heritage disaster prevention, creation of barrier-free spaces, online content service projects utilizing palaces, and support projects for preliminary social enterprises related to cultural heritage. The Cultural Heritage Administration stated, "We will strengthen our capabilities in cultural heritage preservation and management and provide high-quality cultural enjoyment services to the public." They also said, "We will innovate the cultural heritage preservation and management system to showcase new types of cultural heritage administration and government innovation achievements."