Personal Information Protection Commission Allocates 64.6 Billion KRW Budget for 2025... R&D Budget Up 22%

The Personal Information Protection Commission announced a budget of 64.6 billion KRW for 2025 on the 5th to realize a safe personal information society in daily life and to establish global norms for personal information.

The Commission focused intensive investment on technology development next year to take a step closer to the data economy, while boldly reducing recurring expenses (costs required for the government to operate administrative tasks and organizations).

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First, the budget for research and development (R&D) of personal information protection and utilization technologies increased by 22.2% to 8.7 billion KRW compared to 7.1 billion KRW in 2024. It allocated 5.2 billion KRW for R&D to strengthen personal information protection technologies, 2.0 billion KRW for supporting the development of personal information technology standards, and newly allocated 1.5 billion KRW for AI personal information protection utilization technology development.

The budget for international cooperation on personal information was increased to 2.4 billion KRW. In particular, since 2025 will host the 47th Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), known as the "United Nations (UN) of the personal information field," 1.4 billion KRW was newly allocated. The plan is to solidify the international cooperation system by establishing leadership appropriate to the status as the host country and forming global personal information norms.

Emphasis was also placed on strengthening the rights and interests of data subjects in the digital age. A total budget of 12.1 billion KRW was allocated, including 6.1 billion KRW to reduce the cost burden on data transmission participants and support the MyData intermediary infrastructure to foster the MyData ecosystem, and 6.0 billion KRW for the MyData transmission support platform project, timed with the early implementation of the MyData (personal information transmission request right) system.

Furthermore, 3.6 billion KRW will be invested in safe data utilization support projects that support personal information safe zones and pseudonymized information utilization centers for the safe use of personal information. Among these, 600 million KRW will be newly invested in a system construction project for pseudonymization of unstructured data such as video and audio to enable the use of de-identified information in various industries, including healthcare.

A budget of 3.7 billion KRW was allocated for the personal information autonomous environment creation project to foster an environment where public institutions and private businesses that process personal information voluntarily protect it. In particular, the plan is to improve the level of personal information processing through personal information protection level evaluations and personal information processing policy evaluations.

7.5 billion KRW will be invested in personal information infringement prevention projects for systematic prevention and response to personal information infringement and leakage incidents. Through inspections of personal information processing and management practices, the Commission will proactively analyze personal information infringement issues and establish a systematic investigation process, including analyzing the causes of incidents when personal information leakage occurs.

A new budget of 1.6 billion KRW was reflected for the establishment of a digital forensic research institute capable of analyzing evidence to prove responsibility in the event of personal information leakage incidents. Additionally, budgets were allocated as follows: 1.9 billion KRW for personal information protection policy support, 1.1 billion KRW for personal information education support, 500 million KRW for personal information protection technology development support and dissemination, 2.1 billion KRW for Commission operation support, 1.9 billion KRW for Commission informatization support, and 500 million KRW for Commission legal support.

Lee Jeong-ryeol, Secretary General of the Personal Information Protection Commission, said, "The Commission has solidified its role as the control tower in the personal information field so far," adding, "Going forward, we will take responsible roles to shift policies to safely protect and utilize personal information considering changes in new technologies and industries such as AI and robots."

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