Presidential Office Spends 2 Billion KRW on 1st Quarter Operational Expenses... 140 Million KRW Decrease Compared to Previous Year

'Policy Coordination and Current Issues Meeting' Usage Items Increased by 100 Million Won Only

The Presidential Office spent about 2 billion won in the first quarter of this year on business promotion expenses, which is approximately 140 million won less than the same period last year.

According to the "2024 First Quarter Presidential Office and National Security Office Business Promotion Expense Execution Details" posted on the Presidential Office website on the 21st, the Secretariat and National Security Office used a total of 1,980.8 million won for business promotion expenses during the first quarter (January 1 to March 31). This amount corresponds to 26.3% of the annual budget of 7,523.52 million won.

By category, 1,131.32 million won (17,291 times), which is 57.1% of the total first quarter expenditure, was spent on "support for national commemorative day events and souvenirs."

Next, 451.98 million won (2,862 times) was used for "policy coordination and current issue-related meetings," accounting for the second largest share.

The policy coordination and current issue-related meetings category consists of expert consultations and meetings such as public livelihood forums and national economic advisory meetings (337 times, 63.24 million won), policy consultations with related organizations (groups) such as the Democracy Summit and emergency economic and security inspection meetings (2,023 times, 304.17 million won), and other public communication activities such as the 2024 New Year's greeting event and market fire site inspections (462 times, 84.57 million won).

In addition, 364.87 million won (458 times) was spent on "domestic and international key personnel invitation events," and 32.63 million won (234 times) was spent on "other expenses such as department business promotion support."

On the 16th, one day before President Yoon Seok-yeol's 100th day in office, the Presidential Office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul is shown. President Yoon, emphasizing the elimination of authoritarianism, moved the stage of state affairs from the former Blue House to Yongsan. With the president's office relocated to Yongsan, the Blue House was fully opened to the public. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Compared to 2,124.47 million won spent in the first quarter last year (30.4% of the annual budget of 6,994.31 million won), this is a decrease of 143.67 million won.

While spending decreased in most categories, the budget used for policy coordination and current issue-related meetings increased by 94.29 million won compared to last year. This appears to be due to the increased costs from newly established public livelihood forums and meetings, as well as the hosting of the Democracy Summit this year.