KCC's Budget for Next Year 260.7 Billion Won... 1.8% Increase from This Year

52 Billion KRW Increase Compared to Government Proposal in National Assembly Deliberation
Expansion of Customized TVs for Disabled... Strengthening Free Education by EBS

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The budget for the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) next year has been finalized at 260.7 billion KRW, a slight increase from this year's budget. The budget for expanding the distribution of customized TVs for the visually and hearing impaired has been increased, and a new budget has been allocated to support the production of free EBS Middle School Premium lectures.

The KCC announced on the 24th that the 2023 budget and fund operation plan, including these details, were finally approved at the National Assembly plenary session.

The KCC's budget and fund size for next year is 260.7 billion KRW, which is 1.8% (4.6 billion KRW) higher than this year's 256.1 billion KRW, and 5.2 billion KRW more than the government's proposed budget of 255.5 billion KRW during the National Assembly review process. Of the total budget, the general account is 49.3 billion KRW, down 1.4 billion KRW from this year, and the Broadcasting and Communications Development Fund increased by 6 billion KRW to 211.4 billion KRW.

The KCC allocated the budget to support the national agenda of "a free and happy digital and media world in harmony with the people" as follows: 73.4 billion KRW for media welfare for marginalized groups and securing publicness in broadcasting and communications; 27.7 billion KRW for building a foundation to protect broadcasting and communication service users; 92.3 billion KRW for promoting broadcasting content; and 26.9 billion KRW for protecting viewers' rights and activating participation.

By project, the KCC will take the lead in realizing the important national agenda of "guaranteeing broadcasting access rights for marginalized groups." To increase the distribution of customized TVs for the visually and hearing impaired from the current 15,000 units to 20,000 units, 5.7 billion KRW has been allocated, and 7 billion KRW has been budgeted to expand support for the production and quality improvement of broadcasting for the disabled.

Additionally, 320 million KRW has been allocated for an app market survey to protect broadcasting and communication service users, and 80 million KRW for activating self-regulation of digital platforms. For creating an education environment without gaps, 5.65 billion KRW has been allocated to support the production of free EBS Middle School Premium lectures, and 600 million KRW has been allocated to strengthen the competitiveness of the online video service (OTT) industry.

The KCC explained that it actively utilized the citizen participation budget review system, which allows the general public to participate in the government budget process, to enhance financial transparency during the budget allocation process. Through this system, budgets were secured for projects such as establishing and operating a volatile obscene material monitoring system, distributing harmful information blocking software for tablet PCs to protect youth, building a one-stop digital sex crime reporting automatic response system (ARS), and establishing a misidentification reporting system for filtering digital sex crime videos.

The KCC stated, "We will thoroughly prepare to ensure that next year's budget is executed without any issues and faithfully implement the government's national agenda."