KFN TV Budget Slashed by 40% Next Year... Concerns Over Reduction in Mental Readiness Programs

Ahn: "Not Retaliatory... Will Review the Situation"

The production budget for KFN TV (formerly Defense TV) for next year has been reduced by about 40% compared to this year. Concerns have been raised that this could affect the production of numerous programs necessary to strengthen the mental readiness of military personnel.

According to the office of Assemblyman Lim Jongdeuk of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, the government budget proposal for KFN TV's production costs for next year has been set at 5.434 billion won. This is a 42.1% reduction compared to this year's production budget of 9.386 billion won. The in-house production budget has been reduced by 45.3% to 3.759 billion won, while the outsourced production budget has been cut by 35.3% to 1.675 billion won.

On the 20th, soldiers who completed training are crossing the combined pontoon bridge during the ROK-US combined joint crossing training held at Seogeunso Training Ground near the Imjingang River in Yeoncheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province. This training, conducted as part of the first half of the 2025 ROK-US combined exercises, involved about 600 soldiers from the ROK Army's 5th and 7th Engineer Brigades, the US 2nd Infantry Division, and the ROK-US Combined Division. 2025.03.20 Photo by Joint Press Corps

If this is implemented, KFN TV is expected to suffer significant setbacks. The proportion of program production will be drastically reduced to about half, and the production of content related to promoting government defense policies and strengthening the mental readiness of soldiers will also be greatly diminished. In particular, there are concerns that the quality of produced programs may decline, as the standard production cost per episode will be reduced to about 14 million won-less than 50% of the standard for similar organizations.

If this budget proposal becomes reality, in-house productions such as "Earth Heroes" (mental readiness enhancement), "Mil-Dang Baek" (defense policy promotion), "Sincere about Travel" (boosting morale), "This is Combat" (building a strong military), and "Military Tech: Defense Account Command" (economic education) will not be able to be produced. As for outsourced programs, "Strong Military 365" (building a strong military), "Today's Military" (strong military promotion), and "Military Song Contest" (boosting morale) will have to be reduced by 40% or one program will have to be discontinued.

KFN TV currently has 1.04 million YouTube subscribers, maintaining the number one spot among government agency-operated channels for eight consecutive years.

Some observers interpret this budget cut as a response to former Defense Media Agency Director Chae Il, who stirred controversy by excluding references to the 12·3 Martial Law in the minister's inauguration speech and other issues. At the plenary session of the National Assembly Special Committee on Budget and Accounts on November 15, Defense Minister Ahn Kyubaek responded to Assemblyman Lim's questions on this matter by stating, "We do not reduce the budget of an institution just because there is a problem with its head," and added, "I will review the situation, as the budget cut may reduce the quality of services and content provided to the military."