Ministry of Unification Increases Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund by 1.9%... Over 1 Trillion Won for 4 Consecutive Years

Lee Jong-joo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, is holding a briefing on the restoration of inter-Korean communication channels at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 27th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The Ministry of Unification announced on the 2nd that the inter-Korean cooperation fund for next year will be 1.2694 trillion won, an increase of 23.8 billion won (1.9%) compared to this year’s 1.2456 trillion won. With this, the inter-Korean cooperation fund has maintained the 1 trillion won level for four consecutive years since 2019.

The budget was allocated with 1.267 trillion won for project expenses and 2.35 billion won for fund operation costs. The project expenses increased by 23.9 billion won from this year’s 1.2431 trillion won, with increased budgets for social and cultural exchanges and peaceful use of the DMZ.

By sector, the budget for humanitarian cooperation such as livelihood cooperation was the largest at 652.2 billion won (51.5%), followed by inter-Korean economic cooperation (589.3 billion won, 46.5%) and inter-Korean social and cultural exchanges (22.1 billion won, 1.7%).

The Ministry of Unification stated, "The inter-Korean cooperation fund was organized with a focus on ▲promoting inter-Korean exchanges at the local government and private levels ▲peace zone establishment in the DMZ ▲actively driving the improvement of inter-Korean relations and the Peace New Deal vision."

The inter-Korean cooperation fund is intended to supply funds necessary for inter-Korean exchange and cooperation projects, and the execution rate varies depending on inter-Korean relations. Last year, the fund execution rate was only 3.7% based on project expenses, and this year’s inter-Korean cooperation fund budget was executed only 1.5% as of the end of August.

The general account budget is 230.4 billion won, an increase of 1 billion won (about 0.4%) compared to this year’s 229.4 billion won.

Among the general account, project expenses increased by about 1.4 billion won from this year’s 165.5 billion won to 166.9 billion won next year. By major projects, the budget for support for North Korean defectors’ settlement was 95.2 billion won, accounting for 57% of the total project expenses, making it the largest portion, followed by unification education at 17.2 billion won (10.3%), situation analysis at 15.7 billion won (9.4%), unification policy at 14.6 billion won (8.7%), and inter-Korean economic cooperation at 6 billion won (3.6%).

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