Presidential Office Doubles National Security and Crisis Management Budget... Communication Budget Up 37%

Business Support Expenses 15.57 Billion Won... 9% Increase YoY
Personnel Expenses Decreased by 2.1% to 42.428 Billion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Presidential Office has doubled the budget for national security and crisis management this year compared to last year.

According to the Presidential Office's "2023 Budget Project Explanation Materials" released on the 9th, the budget for national security and crisis management this year was set at 933 million KRW. This amount is about twice the 464 million KRW budget from last year.

The Presidential Office explained that the increased budget this year was allocated to maintain and manage the information network within the Crisis Management Center (Situation Room) and to conduct research services related to national security.

The Presidential Office also allocated 5.973 billion KRW for the national administration management project budget this year, an increase of 37.2% (1.621 billion KRW) compared to last year. The Presidential Office stated that this budget aims to "strengthen communication with the public, conduct opinion polls and policy task research services, and establish policy directions through performance evaluations of national administration."

The doorstepping (brief Q&A on the way to work), which symbolized the Yongsan era, has been suspended for over 50 days, but the Presidential Office is increasing direct communication with the public through other methods such as national task review meetings.

The budget for work support expenses, which assists the President's national administration, was set at 15.57 billion KRW, a 9.0% (1.286 billion KRW) increase from last year's 14.221 billion KRW.

The budget for facility management and improvement to manage the Presidential Secretariat and National Security Office facilities and ensure the safety of aging facilities increased by 7.9% (378 million KRW) to 5.171 billion KRW compared to last year.

The basic expenses rose by 0.4% (91 million KRW) to 20.697 billion KRW, and the budget for administrative efficiency enhancement and capacity development increased by 3.2% (8 million KRW) to 261 million KRW.

On the other hand, the personnel expenses for Presidential Office staff decreased by 2.1% (900 million KRW) to 42.428 billion KRW compared to last year.

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