33 Billion Won Allocated for Improving Disaster Broadcasting Reception
SNS Monitoring Budget Increased by 1 Billion Won
The Korea Communications Commission's budget for next year has been reduced by approximately 5 billion won compared to this year. The budget for supporting the Korea Foundation for Media and Audience was significantly cut, reflecting the impact of expenditure restructuring.
On September 5, the Korea Communications Commission announced that it had submitted a total budget proposal of 237.3 billion won for 2026 to the National Assembly. This represents a decrease of 5 billion won from this year, with the support budget for the Korea Foundation for Media and Audience reduced by 3.5 billion won.
The Commission allocated 17.8 billion won for establishing the broadcasting, media, and communications environment; 39.8 billion won for building the broadcasting, media, and communications ecosystem; and 4.5 billion won for strengthening user protection in broadcasting, media, and communications.
Specifically, 3.3 billion won was allocated to improve disaster broadcasting reception in blind spots such as tunnels. To ensure prompt disaster broadcasting and operations, budget support for the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), which is the main disaster broadcaster, and for disaster situation room operations, was strengthened.
To prevent the distribution of illegal and harmful information such as gambling, drugs, and prostitution, the monitoring budget for major social networking services (SNS) was increased by 1 billion won, and a new budget of 600 million won was established for monitoring illegal obscene content on digital subscription-based services. The budget for responding to illegal spam, which causes economic damage to the public, was increased by 100 million won.
To support the growth of regional broadcasters and strengthen their content production capabilities amid rapid changes in the media environment, the Commission increased support by 500 million won to a total of 5 billion won. Additionally, 200 million won was allocated for community radio to promote citizen participation in media culture and support the production of locally focused broadcasting programs.
Furthermore, the budget for producing high-quality educational broadcasting programs, including lifelong education and programs for infants and children, was increased by 1 billion won compared to this year. The budget to promote the domestic over-the-top (OTT) industry and facilitate overseas expansion was maintained at 600 million won, the same as this year.
To support the innovative growth of the domestic location information industry and strengthen the social safety net, the Commission allocated 3 billion won for location information-related projects.
In addition, due to a recent surge in dispute mediation requests following incidents such as the SK Telecom hacking case, the budget for the Telecommunications Dispute Mediation Committee was increased to enable prompt dispute resolution.
The Commission also established a new budget of 200 million won to inspect the operation of domestic agents for overseas operators, including global big tech companies, in order to ensure effective regulation of foreign businesses.
A representative from the Korea Communications Commission stated, "To implement major projects, we re-prioritized existing initiatives and reduced public sector expenses as part of expenditure restructuring," adding, "Next year's budget proposal will be finalized following deliberation and approval by the National Assembly."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
