[2023 Budget] Ministry of the Interior and Safety Allocates 80 Trillion Won, 13% Increase... "Focused Investment on New Government's National Tasks"

Budget Cuts Across Digital Government Innovation, Disaster Safety, and Local Economy Sectors

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has prepared next year’s budget at 80 trillion won, an increase of more than 13% compared to this year. The local allocation tax has been increased by more than 15% to 75.28 trillion won compared to this year, and about 4.4 trillion won will be invested in the new government’s core national tasks. However, budgets for each sector such as digital government innovation, disaster safety, and regional economy were all reduced.

On the 30th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that it has prepared next year’s budget at 80.0724 trillion won, a 13.3% increase from this year’s 70.6649 trillion won. The local allocation tax was set at 75.2883 trillion won, an increase of 10.2322 trillion won compared to this year, reflecting the expected increase in next year’s domestic tax estimates. Personnel expenses and basic expenses were set at 385.2 billion won, a 2.4% increase. The budget will be finalized at the end of this year after review by the National Assembly.

The project budget focuses on the new government’s core national tasks such as implementing a digital platform government, establishing an advanced disaster safety management system, and strengthening regional balanced development infrastructure, investing 4.3989 trillion won. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will first invest 953.5 billion won to implement the digital platform government by expanding the National Secretary service and mobile ID cards, and building My AI Service, Any-ID, and data platforms.

In the My AI Service sector, the National Secretary service, which provides lifestyle information through frequently used private apps, will be expanded, and the budget for expanding information security infrastructure will be increased by 15.6 billion won to expand mobile ID cards. Any-ID, which allows easy login to public websites and apps with a single desired ID, will also be established.

Next, to establish an advanced disaster safety management system, 1.1365 trillion won has been allocated to expand disaster risk area maintenance and excellent stormwater retention facility installation projects. A new project to build automatic blocking facilities on flood-prone vulnerable roads will also be launched. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will invest 685.8 billion won in disaster risk area maintenance, an increase of 65.3 billion won compared to this year, and about 7.7 billion won, an increase of about 7.5 billion won compared to this year, will be invested in the installation of excellent stormwater retention facilities to prevent flood damage caused by rapid increases in rainwater during concentrated heavy rains in urban areas.

A blocking facility project that automatically controls road access and issues warning broadcasts to minimize casualties when river water levels reach control standards will also be newly launched. The budget for supporting public facility damage recovery and livelihood stabilization support for victims of private facility damage has been increased by 50 billion won from 100 billion won to 150 billion won to enable rapid recovery in the event of large-scale disasters.

Additionally, 1.6496 trillion won will be invested in the regional economy sector. Investments in depopulated areas and island regions will be strengthened to promote regional balanced development, and new projects for regional price stabilization will also be pursued. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will increase the local extinction response fund from 750 billion won this year to 1 trillion won next year and newly allocate 3.5 billion won to improve living conditions to prevent the abandonment of small islands.

6.776 trillion won has been allocated for past issue resolution projects. 193.6 billion won has been allocated for compensation related to the Jeju 4·3 incident, an increase of 12.6 billion won compared to this year, and 5.8 billion won, an increase of 1.5 billion won compared to this year, will be provided to support the Yeosu-Suncheon October 19 Incident Committee.

Ha Byung-pil, Director of Planning and Coordination, explained, “Next year’s Ministry of the Interior and Safety budget focuses on laying the foundation for promoting national tasks such as implementing the digital platform government, establishing an advanced disaster safety management system, and strengthening regional balanced development infrastructure,” adding, “We plan to make our best efforts during the National Assembly review stage to ensure the government’s proposal is reflected as originally planned.”