Next Year’s 141.4 Billion KRW National Participation Budget Including 'Sex Crimes and Child Abuse'... 21.1% Increase

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] The government has allocated a total of 141.4 billion KRW for the Participatory Budgeting in next year’s budget proposal. This is an increase of 21.1% (24.7 billion KRW) compared to this year. The projects selected mainly address issues with high public awareness such as sexual crimes, child abuse, youth policies, and natural disasters.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance on the 2nd, there are 71 projects related to Participatory Budgeting included in next year’s budget proposal, which is 8 more than this year. Participatory Budgeting is a system that reflects public opinions collected through the Budget Public Participation Group during the budget formulation process, and the public will also participate in subsequent processes such as project concretization.

Next year’s Participatory Budgeting includes many projects related to the protection of life, safety, and human rights of the public. To respond to socially significant issues such as COVID-19, building safety accidents, and child abuse, projects such as reinforcement of negative pressure ambulances, support for enhancing fire safety performance of existing buildings, and strengthening the expertise of child abuse response systems have been included.

Additionally, projects aimed at improving the quality of life for the public, such as the installation of a 4th Industrial Revolution job experience center, establishment of a lifelong learning center for all citizens, and creation of an internet damage counseling center, are also included.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated, "We will actively respond during the National Assembly’s budget review process to ensure that public opinions are faithfully reflected," and added, "We plan to encourage each ministry to execute the finalized participatory budgeting projects without any setbacks so that they can be operated effectively."

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