Ministry of Unification Spends 700 Million Won on North Korea Materials... "Expanding Information Disclosure Scope"

Purchase of 5,244 North Korean Materials Including Monthly Literary Magazines Planned
"Expansion of Information Disclosure Scope and Digitization Work Scheduled"
Unification Information Data Center to Begin Construction in Goyang City This September

The Ministry of Unification has decided to significantly expand the scale of North Korean material purchases this year and allocate a budget of approximately 700 million KRW for digitization work and other related tasks. The Ministry explained that this move aims to broaden the scope of information disclosure regarding North Korean materials, as well as to prepare for the upcoming construction of the "Unification Information Materials Center" scheduled to begin within the year.

According to the Ministry of Unification on the 11th, the Ministry will invest a budget of 693 million KRW this year to purchase North Korean materials such as books and to carry out digital archiving work. Currently, the Ministry is promoting the purchase of 900 types and 5,244 volumes of North Korean materials from companies authorized by the government to handle special materials. Specifically, this includes 837 types and 837 volumes of monographs such as the "Economic Research Papers Collection," and 63 types and 4,407 volumes of periodicals including "Chosun Literature," a representative monthly literary magazine of North Korea.

Ministry of Unification [Image source=Yonhap News]

The budget the Ministry of Unification invested in related projects last year was about 55 million KRW, with annual budgets ranging from 40 to 50 million KRW. The North Korean materials secured in this way were made available to the public through the North Korean Materials Center and other channels. However, due to North Korea’s border closure following the COVID-19 pandemic, there were difficulties in collecting materials, but with the easing of border conditions this year, the budget scale has been significantly increased.

In particular, this purchase of materials also serves as preparation for the opening of the Unification Information Materials Center. The Ministry of Unification’s North Korean Materials Center, currently "renting a room" within a section of the National Library of Korea, plans to relocate by constructing the Unification Information Materials Center in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province. The library had been requesting the relocation due to lack of space, and the Ministry of Unification had to discard some old materials because it could not manage the increasing volume of holdings. The Unification Information Materials Center is scheduled for completion in 2026, with construction set to begin in September in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province.

An official from the Ministry of Unification stated, "As announced in the early-year work report, we have significantly expanded the related budget in terms of 'expanding public services for North Korean materials.' We are building an archive system for digital materials and are also promoting a project to create DVDs of newly purchased materials and register them in our information system." Earlier, in the January early-year work report, the Ministry of Unification announced plans to ▲expand the scope of information disclosure on North Korean materials ▲improve accessibility and convenience of North Korean materials.

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