"Generous Investment in 'Busan-style Policing'... Busan Autonomous Police Committee Confirms 10.5 Billion KRW Budget for Next Year"

Busan City and City Council Collaboration, 4 Billion KRW City Budget Allocated - Largest Nationwide

16 Public Safety Projects Promoted, Comprehensive Welfare for Autonomous Police Ensured

Busan City Autonomous Police Budget and Major Project Expenses.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City has finalized the budget for the Busan Autonomous Police Committee for next year at 10.5 billion KRW.

The budget for next year was organized with a focus on discovering Busan-style public safety policies linked to security and administration, and citizen-tailored public safety projects.

Additionally, the plan is to lead the realization of the Busan-style autonomous police system by allocating an expansive and balanced budget in the early stages of system implementation, including diverse and differentiated promotional activities and improvements in welfare and treatment for autonomous police officers.

Looking at the budget status, 8.5 billion KRW (including 6.6 billion KRW in national funds) was allocated for public safety projects in the fields of daily safety, women and youth, and traffic, under the policy goal of "Making Busan Safer and Happier," accounting for 80.9% of the total committee budget.

The remainder covers welfare expenses for autonomous police officers, support for public-private-police security activities, and basic committee expenses.

The committee has actively communicated and collaborated with the City Council and Busan Police Agency from the budget planning stage. The focus was on budgeting for discovering resident-centered public safety policies, raising citizen awareness of autonomous police, and promoting new media public safety policies.

Details of the reflected projects and budget amounts include ▲ 100 million KRW for the Public Safety Living Lab to utilize platforms for exploring security issues and solutions ▲ 200 million KRW for establishing a smart warning system to protect vulnerable traffic groups and prevent traffic accidents ▲ 270 million KRW for the Happy Family Hope Dream Project to operate correction programs for domestic violence perpetrators ▲ 140 million KRW for media utilization and citizen participation promotions.

The plan is to gradually improve the treatment of police officers in the field, enhance acceptance of the autonomous police system on-site through various welfare programs, attract excellent personnel, and thereby induce the successful establishment of the Busan-style autonomous police system.

Launched in May this year, the Busan Autonomous Police Committee secured 6.6 billion KRW in national funds for the existing project execution of the Busan Police Agency, and by allocating about 4 billion KRW in city funds this time, it aims to further strengthen the role and functions of Busan autonomous police.

Of the committee’s total budget of 10.5 billion KRW for next year, the city’s financial input rate for promoting public safety projects is about 38%, the highest level among metropolitan local governments nationwide.

The national government subsidy for operating expenses of autonomous police systems, requested by autonomous police committees of cities and provinces nationwide to related agencies such as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, was included in the central government budget for next year (13 billion KRW nationwide annually for two years), passed by the National Assembly on the 3rd, which is expected to reduce the financial burden on local governments.

Jung Yong-hwan, Chairman of the Busan Autonomous Police Committee, said, “Next year’s committee budget reflects Busan-style policies that integrate security and administration, and we will do our best to provide citizen-centered public safety services.”

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