The Ministry of Finance and Economy said on the 9th that it released more than 1 trillion won in defense spending that should have been paid out at the end of last year.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy said, "Including the emergency funds requested by the Ministry of National Defense and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, we paid 1.5 trillion won in carried-over execution funds at 9 a.m. today."
Earlier, the Ministry of National Defense failed to pay 1.3 trillion won in defense spending that should have been given to each branch of the armed forces and defense contractors at the end of last year. On this, the Ministry of National Defense said it applied for the budget to the Ministry of Finance and Economy in the normal course, but the expenditure surged toward year-end, delaying the allocation of funds.
The funds paid out that day are scheduled to be executed sequentially to each agency through the Ministry of National Defense. Explaining why an additional 200 billion won was added to the unpaid defense spending, the Ministry of Finance and Economy said, "This is a customary carryover execution in which part of last year's expenditure budget is executed in January this year," adding, "This year, considering the urgency in the defense sector, we paid more quickly than in previous years."