Ulsan City Achieves Record-High 2.6119 Trillion Won in National Funding for 2025

A 3.4% Increase Compared to Last Year's Total of 2.5268 Trillion Won

Central Government Budget Proposal Up 3.2% Year-on-Year

Ulsan City announced on the 28th that a record-high amount of 2.6119 trillion won has been included in the government’s 2025 national budget proposal.

Despite the central government’s strong fiscal tightening, with the overall budget increasing by only 3.2% year-on-year, Ulsan managed to secure 2.6119 trillion won?an increase of 85.1 billion won (3.4%) compared to last year’s 2.5268 trillion won. This is expected to add momentum to the city’s key projects.

By sector, the breakdown is 1.9306 trillion won for national subsidy projects (an increase of 102.1 billion won from the previous year) and 681.3 billion won for national implementation projects (a decrease of 17 billion won from the previous year).

Major new projects include ▲2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo (1 billion won) ▲Reinforcement of the breakwater at Ulsan New Port North Port (1.3 billion won) ▲Development and dissemination of digital-focused international (global) environmental regulation response solutions (2.5 billion won) ▲Establishment of an online platform for high-output secondary battery material and component performance verification (2.1 billion won) ▲Expansion of the Ulsan-Mipo National Industrial Complex access road (Jujeon to Seonggolgyo) (3.5 billion won) ▲Construction of a national port disaster-specialized real fire ship training center (1.07 billion won), among others.

Ongoing projects include ▲Road construction between Nongso and Gangdong (10 billion won) ▲Construction of Ulsan Urban Railway (Tram) Line 1 (6 billion won) ▲Support for Ulsan University Glocal University (29 billion won) ▲Construction of the Nongso-Oedong national highway (9 billion won) ▲Reconstruction of Seongam Incinerator Units 1 and 2 (9.3 billion won) ▲Digital innovation transformation project for the auto parts industry (30.2 billion won) ▲Development of Ulsan New Port (47.96 billion won) ▲Improvement of the Yeocheon natural disaster risk zone (5 billion won), and more.

The reason Ulsan was able to secure a record amount of national funding is, first, due to the administrative efforts led by Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom, who continuously visited central government ministries and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to persuade them of the necessity of these projects and focused administrative resources on securing national funds to maintain Ulsan’s reputation as the industrial capital of Korea.

Second, on June 17, a budget policy council was held with local National Assembly members to share the need for national projects, and the strong cooperation between Ulsan City and the local political community, along with the full support of the region’s lawmakers, played a significant role.

Lastly, the city evaluated that the harmonious combination of “administrative power, political power, and future-oriented projects” was achieved by holding two national budget strategy briefings early in the year to intensively discover and specify projects that can drive Ulsan’s future development.

Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom said, “With the inclusion of major projects such as the Urban Railway Line 1 and the 2028 Ulsan International Garden Expo, which will enhance the quality of life and cultural stability for Ulsan citizens, Ulsan is now able to move forward as a prosperous and dignified global city. Despite the government’s sound fiscal policy, the fact that many of the projects requested by Ulsan were included is thanks to the active support of our local National Assembly members, to whom I would like to express my gratitude.”

Ulsan City will shift to a full-scale National Assembly response system once the 2025 government budget proposal is submitted to the National Assembly on September 2. The city plans to actively pursue budget increases for projects that were not included or only partially included in the government’s proposal by holding further budget policy councils with the local political community and operating a permanent camp at the National Assembly.

Ulsan City Hall

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