[Budget Focus] Next Year's Budget Increases by 12 Trillion Won After Preliminary Review by Standing Committees

Support for National Health Insurance Increased by 1.9 Trillion Won, the Largest Single Addition
Health and Welfare Committee Adds 3.8 Trillion Won; Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee Adds 2 Trillion Won
Final Confirmation Pending Review by Special Committee on Budget and Accounts

It has been confirmed that the national budget for next year has increased by approximately 12 trillion won after preliminary reviews by the standing committees of the National Assembly.

According to an interim tally by The Asia Business Daily on the budget deliberations conducted by each standing committee as of November 18, the net increase amounts to 11.857 trillion won. Through the preliminary review by the Health and Welfare Committee, the budget for related ministries increased by 3.8148 trillion won. The Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee increased its budget by 2.0322 trillion won; the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee by 1.431 trillion won; the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee by 1.333 trillion won; the Industry, Trade, Resources, SMEs and Startups Committee by 1.264 trillion won; and the Planning and Finance Committee by 1.164 trillion won. The Education Committee increased its budget by 795.2 billion won, the National Defense Committee by 563.4 billion won, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee by 246 billion won, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee by 187.6 billion won, the Political Affairs Committee by 140.5 billion won, and the Gender Equality and Family Committee by 85.3 billion won.

On the 11th, Kang Daesik, the subcommittee chairman, is presiding over the meeting at the National Defense Committee Budget and Accounts Deliberation Subcommittee held at the National Assembly. 2025.11.11 Photo by Kim Hyunmin

However, the results of the preliminary reviews by the standing committees are submitted to the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts for further review and final confirmation, so there is a possibility of adjustments. In particular, since any budget increase must be approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, not all results from the standing committee reviews will be reflected in the final budget.

The largest single item is the 1.9459 trillion won increase for "support for National Health Insurance subscribers" by the Health and Welfare Committee. Under the National Health Insurance Act, the government is required to support 14% of the expected insurance premium revenue, and next year’s budget proposal includes measures to meet this requirement. The main point is to increase the budget, which had only reflected 12% for next year, to the legally mandated level and to account for the premium rate increase (1.48%). The budget for increasing the support unit cost for the Nuri Curriculum for children aged 3 to 5 from the current 280,000 won to 300,000 won, totaling 178.9 billion won, was also increased through the review by the Education Committee and others.

The scale of the budget increase is expected to grow further during the preliminary review process by the standing committees. The results of the budget increase reviews by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee and the Public Administration and Security Committee, which tend to handle large-scale increases due to their focus on social overhead capital (SOC), will be key variables. In last year’s preliminary review, the Public Administration and Security Committee increased the budget by 2.6183 trillion won, and the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee by 1.4509 trillion won, respectively.

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