The Korea Communications Commission announced on the 5th that it has submitted a budget proposal of 237.3 billion won for 2026 (government proposal) to the National Assembly. This represents a decrease of 5 billion won compared to this year's budget of 242.3 billion won.
Looking at next year's budget in detail, 17.8 billion won is earmarked for creating a safe broadcasting, media, and communications environment, 39.8 billion won for building a vibrant broadcasting, media, and communications ecosystem, and 4.5 billion won for strengthening the protection of broadcasting, media, and communications users.
The budget for creating a safe broadcasting, media, and communications environment has increased by 5 billion won compared to last year's 12.8 billion won.
33 billion won has been allocated for improving disaster broadcasting reception environments to solve the blind spots of disaster broadcasts such as tunnels, and another 33 billion won has been designated for supporting the rapid transmission and operation of disaster broadcasts by the primary broadcaster, Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), and for operating disaster situations rooms. Additionally, 33 billion won has been increased by 10 million won to address illegal spam causing economic harm to the public.
The Korea Communications Commission has newly established a budget of 1 billion won for monitoring major online relationship networks (SNS platforms) and 600 million won for monitoring illegal pornographic information related to digital subscription-based services. The budgets were formulated through the citizen participation budgeting system that involves direct participation from the central government.
For creating a safe foundation for AI (artificial intelligence) utilization, a budget of 278 million won has been allocated, just as it was this year. The Korea Communications Commission noted that they plan to work on preventing user harm from AI services through user participation and information provision projects in response to the negative functions that will arise as AI services spread.
The budget for building a vibrant broadcasting, media, and communications ecosystem has increased by 1.4 billion won compared to this year's 38.4 billion won.
The Korea Communications Commission has allocated 5 billion won more than this year to support the growth of local broadcasts and enhance content production capabilities, totaling 5 billion won, and has earmarked 200 million won for supporting the production of outstanding community-focused broadcasting programs as part of expanding citizen-participation media culture.
In addition, the budget for producing high-quality educational broadcasting programs, including lifelong education programs and programs for infants and children, has been increased by 1 billion won, and 600 million won has been allocated to promote the activation of the domestic online video service (OTT) industry and facilitate overseas expansion.
A budget of 3 billion won has been allocated for related projects to support the innovative growth of the domestic location information industry and strengthen the social safety net.
To strengthen the protection of broadcasting, media, and communications users, 4.5 billion won has been allocated, which is an increase of over 600 million won compared to this year.
In response to a surge in dispute resolution applications due to the recent hacking incident involving SK Telecom, the Korea Communications Commission increased the budget for the Telecommunications Dispute Mediation Committee to enable swift and active dispute resolutions.
The Korea Communications Commission has established a budget for inspecting the operational status of domestic agents for global big tech firms and other overseas operators to ensure the effectiveness of regulations against overseas businesses, and has also increased the budget for operating the Online Victim 365 Center to ensure citizens can effectively receive counseling and assistance regarding online harm.
The Korea Communications Commission also adjusted the priorities of existing projects to promote key initiatives and conducted expenditure restructuring, including cost reductions in the public sector.
The budget for operating Korea Communications Commission facilities has been reduced by over 100 million won compared to this year, and the budget for administrative information system has also been reduced by 175 million won. The budget for supporting the Community Media Foundation has been reduced from 22.4 billion won this year to approximately 18.8 billion won next year.
The Korea Communications Commission's budget proposal for next year will be finalized following deliberation and resolution by the National Assembly. The commission said it will strive for this budget proposal to be reflected as intended for the beneficiaries of the policies.