[2021 Budget] Increasing Public Safety Budget Including 'Undergrounding Utility Poles on School Routes and Early Detection of Abused Children Using Big Data'

2021 Budget Proposal

'National Safety' Special Project Budget

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[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government has decided to promote an undergrounding project for electric wires and communication poles that threaten safety on school commuting routes. Initially, locations with high necessity for public safety, such as school routes, will be selected and the project will be temporarily implemented from next year until 2025 using a joint undergrounding method that significantly reduces construction costs.

On the 1st, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that the '2021 Budget Plan' containing these details has passed the Cabinet meeting.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance has newly allocated 20 billion KRW next year to support the undergrounding of electric wires. The project targets sections requested by local governments where there is a high need for support, such as school commuting routes, and will be constructed using a joint installation method for electric and communication lines. A total of 200 billion KRW (including 400 billion KRW in national funds) will be invested over five years from next year to 2025. Initially, 20 billion KRW of national funds will be supported from the 100 billion KRW project budget next year.

The budget for system advancement, including linking and analyzing various social security big data to predict and detect children at risk of abuse in advance, has been expanded from 200 million KRW this year to 1.6 billion KRW next year. The Police Agency's 'Domestic Violence Report Information' will be linked with the 'e-Child Happiness Support System,' and by diversifying abuse prediction models, the prediction rate for at-risk children will be increased.

Special drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) for wildfire suppression will also be newly supplied. To prepare for cases where night wildfires occur and it is difficult for firefighting helicopters to operate, 4.6 billion KRW will be invested to supply 30 special drones for wildfire suppression. Additionally, 26.7 billion KRW has been allocated to install automatic inspection systems on regular commercial trains, expanding the establishment of unmanned onboard inspection systems that can accurately and safely check for railway abnormalities without manual inspection.

The project to replace styrofoam buoys at fish farms, a major cause of marine pollution, with eco-friendly certified products will also be expanded. The related budget, currently around 7 billion KRW, will increase to 20 billion KRW next year, expanding the distribution target of eco-friendly buoys at fish farms from 2 million units in 2020 to 5.71 million units in 2021. Support will also be provided for the construction of storage facilities and installation of transport pipes to recycle coal ash from power plants on the West Coast as raw materials for cement companies on the East Coast.

The budget for building an artificial intelligence (AI) surveillance system will increase from 4 billion KRW this year to 196.8 billion KRW next year. To strengthen coastal surveillance capabilities, high-performance AI CCTV will be installed not only at expected enemy infiltration points but also at ports, harbors, and general coastal areas. For strengthening garrison surveillance, high-performance AI CCTV will be installed at the garrison boundaries of key units with security facilities such as ammunition depots and air defense positions. Along with this, 53.8 billion KRW will be invested next year, an increase of 3.7 billion KRW from this year, to promote the distribution of training equipment and the construction of training grounds that incorporate advanced 4th industrial revolution technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and big data.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.