[Lee Jaemyung Administration One Year] "A Breakwater in Crisis, a Blade Against Waste"... Planning Ministry's Fiscal Tightening Earns High Marks

One-Year Performance Report of the New Administration

"Supplementary Budget Passed in Just 29 Days" - Rapid, Timely Response

Comprehensive Reform of Wasteful Fiscal Projects

Since the launch of the new administration, the Ministry of Planning and Budget has been laying the foundation for sustainable fiscal management through rigorous spending efficiency measures, while also driving economic recovery and defending against external economic crises through bold and swift fiscal operations. Notably, the ministry has been praised for elevating fiscal transparency by detecting a record number of fraudulent cases related to national subsidies, which had been a key target of its fiscal tightening initiatives.

Yonhap News Agency

On May 20, the ministry released the "One-Year Core Performance Report of the Lee Jaemyung Administration," which Minister Park Hongkeun presented at the cabinet meeting. The report details the indicators from the past year, highlighting the successful balance achieved between proactive fiscal management and a sound fiscal policy stance.

Swift action in times of crisis... Middle East war supplementary budget processed in just 29 days

Immediately after its launch, the ministry responded to economic slowdown risks by implementing two supplementary budgets in 2025 in a timely manner, resulting in a rebound in the growth rate (from 0.3% in the first half of 2025 to 1.7% in the second half). In particular, for the supplementary budget related to the recent "Middle East war," which heightened global supply chain and oil price uncertainties, the ministry succeeded in passing the measure through the National Assembly in just 29 days—more than halving the previous average processing time of 70 days. This marks the fastest passage of a supplementary budget in the past 20 years, serving as a buffer to prevent external shocks from spilling over into the everyday economy.

Conversely, the ministry took decisive action to eliminate unnecessary expenditures. To avoid passing on financial burdens to future generations, the ministry undertook a record-large expenditure restructuring of 27.3 trillion won in the 2026 budget. This year, the ministry is making bold reforms by overhauling similar and overlapping programs and introducing an "integrated performance evaluation" for all fiscal projects, fundamentally restructuring the fiscal investment system to focus on efficiency.

e-Naradoum eliminates blind spots... Record number of subsidy fraud cases detected

Clear progress in fiscal normalization was also seen in the crackdown on fraudulent national subsidy claims. By advancing the next-generation fraud detection system (e-Naradoum), the ministry meticulously identified 10,780 suspicious projects. Based on subsequent on-site investigations, the ministry uncovered a record 992 cases of fraudulent claims in 2025, totaling 66.8 billion won. Both the amount detected and the detection rate saw a significant increase compared to the previous year (49.3 billion won).

At the same time, the "Participatory Budget System," which allows citizens to directly monitor government budgets, was completely revamped. The scope of citizen proposals was expanded beyond new project ideas to include "spending efficiency improvement initiatives," and the number of citizen participants was doubled from 300 to 600. As a result, the number of public budget proposals surged from 517 last year to 1,091 this year—more than doubling. For the first time, the details of expenditure restructuring were transparently disclosed, and the number of published statistical items was increased to 242, marking a significant step forward for fiscal democracy.

"On-site inspections will be expanded twentyfold this year"... Aiming to completely block subsidy fraud

The government is not resting on its achievements from the past year but is pushing even harder to strengthen the national subsidy management system. In line with the "Subsidy Fraud Eradication Plan" announced in March this year, the number of joint on-site inspections across ministries will be expanded more than twentyfold compared to last year (from 606 cases to over 13,200 cases) in 2026.

Fiscal support for balanced regional development will also be significantly diversified. The scope of comprehensive subsidy programs under the Special Account for Regional Balanced Development will be expanded more than threefold, from 3.5 trillion won to 10.6 trillion won, to ensure greater fiscal autonomy for local governments.

Going forward, the Ministry of Planning and Budget will focus all its efforts on delivering tangible results that citizens can feel, centering on its core responsibilities such as strengthening the transparency and accountability of fiscal management, formulating medium- and long-term national development strategies, and enhancing strategic resource allocation.

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