The government will urgently allocate a budget of 1.4 trillion won for the worst wildfire damage recovery in history and to enhance the safety of airport and underground infrastructure. The supplementary budget also includes projects to strengthen aviation and road safety facilities to prevent incidents like the recent sinkholes and the passenger plane accident at Muan Airport.
The government noted on the 18th that it has deliberated and approved the first supplementary budget for 2025 at the Cabinet meeting, aimed at wildfire response and support for trade and artificial intelligence (AI).
In this supplementary budget, the government has allocated a total of 3.2 trillion won for disaster response. In particular, 1.4 trillion won will be urgently injected solely for the recovery from the massive wildfire damage that recently occurred in North Gyeongsang Province. A government official explained that the scale of the damage has been found to be nearly double the initial estimate, making it urgent to secure funding for a swift recovery in the affected areas.
According to the joint investigation by local governments and government agencies, the forest damage area in five cities and counties including Andong and Uiseong in North Gyeongsang Province is about 90,000 hectares. This is nearly double the 45,157 hectares announced by the Korea Forest Service as the wildfire impact area, and is about four times the size of the record damage from the 2000 East Coast wildfire (23,000 hectares).
To assist in the recovery of the affected areas, the government has significantly reinforced the disaster and emergency response budget of each ministry from the previous 500 billion won to 1.5 trillion won. To ensure housing stability for disaster victims, low-interest loans for housing recovery will be provided to affected residents, and 200 billion won will be invested in supplying 1,000 new rental dwellings near the affected areas. Additionally, 8 billion won has been newly allocated for special urban regeneration projects in regions severely impacted by wildfires. To strengthen the local finances of wildfire-affected areas, the government has also decided to purchase local government bonds worth 200 billion won.
In the future, projects will also be pursued to enhance prevention and response capabilities for disasters such as wildfires. 1.077 billion won will be invested in the introduction of six new forest helicopters and the expansion of 30 medium and large water buckets to enable early wildfire extinguishing. An additional 232 million won has been allocated for the deployment of 48 multipurpose wildfire firefighting vehicles for ground firefighting and the installation of emergency extinguishing devices in villages adjacent to nationwide forests. Furthermore, 680 million won will be invested in the introduction of AI surveillance cameras and high-performance drones to quickly detect wildfires.
To protect wildfire firefighting personnel, 15,000 sets of protective gear will be completely replaced. Five recovery vehicles dedicated to field dispatch personnel will also be introduced. A special allowance (monthly 40,000 won) for special wildfire firefighting units will be newly established.
Funding for sinkhole prevention has also been reflected in the supplementary budget. 1.259 billion won will be invested in the renovation of aging sewer pipelines and roads. As ground subsidence accidents have occurred nationwide this year, the government urgently secured additional budgets for the purchase of ground exploration equipment and outsourcing to the private sector. Specifically, it plans to replace aging sewer pipes in 27 places in Seoul and 38 other regions (556 million won), fully renovate 503 kilometers of aging paved roads, and expand the investigation area for sinkhole exploration to double the current size (703 million won).
To prevent the recurrence of the passenger plane accident that occurred recently at Muan Airport, 4.33 billion won has been allocated for strengthening aviation safety facilities. Following the passenger plane disaster that occurred at Muan Airport on Dec. 29, where the localizer (azimuth facility) installed at the end of the runway was made of concrete structure, exacerbating the incident, the government decided to replace localizer facilities at seven airports across the country with underground structures or improve them with break-resistant materials. The targeted airports include Muan, Gwangju, Yeosu, Pohang-Gyeongju (concrete mound structures), Gimhae, Sacheon (concrete exposed structures), and Jeju Airport (H-beam steel structure).
Kim Dong-il, Director of the Budget Office of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said, "While we have been continuously promoting helicopter introductions and the expansion of firefighting personnel, the recent wildfire has revealed weaknesses in our response, and reinforcing these has become the core task of the supplementary budget. We will continue to invest in line with the new types of large disasters going forward."