The government recommended integrating the Information and Communications Promotion Fund and the Broadcasting and Communications Development Fund. The Information and Communications Fund was created to foster the ICT industry and technology, and the Broadcasting and Communications Fund was established to support the broadcasting and media ecosystem, but as time passed, their beneficiaries overlapped, raising the need for integration.
The Ministry of Planning and Budget on the 26th reported the "2026 fund evaluation results" to the Cabinet meeting. Regarding its recommendation to merge the Information and Communications Fund and the Broadcasting and Communications Fund, the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, "With rapid environmental changes such as ICT convergence, digital transformation, and the spread of the AI industry, broadcasting and communications and information and communications have converged, causing significant overlap in the policy targets and support areas of the two funds."
It also noted, "Given that their own revenue sources are the same—fees for spectrum allocation—we need to resolve structural similarities and improve the efficiency of resource management." However, legal revisions are required to accept this recommendation. A bill to integrate the two funds has been introduced in the National Assembly and is under discussion.
The Ministry of Planning and Budget recommended "conditional maintenance" for four funds—the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund, the Culture and Arts Promotion Fund, the Industrial Technology and Commercialization Promotion Fund, and the Asbestos Injury Relief Fund—on the condition of business restructuring and improvements to funding structures. The Industrial Technology Fund can be replaced by other policy finance, and for the Asbestos Fund, questions were raised that corporations are still paying contributions even though the incidence of disease has recently declined.
Regarding the Tourism Promotion and Development Fund, the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, "It is necessary to strengthen the stability of the funding structure for the departure levy, the main resource." It also said that for the Tourism Promotion Fund, the Culture and Arts Fund, and the National Sports Promotion Fund, "We should review options to consolidate resources to resolve imbalances."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Planning and Budget also conducted a fund management evaluation, including returns, for 24 funds. The Private School Teachers' Pension Fund, the small & medium enterprise's start-up and promotion fund, and the Employment Promotion and Vocational Rehabilitation Fund for the Disabled received the highest grade of "excellent," while the Farmers and Fishers Lump-Sum Savings Fund received the lowest grade of "very inadequate."
The National Pension Fund, a large-scale fund with more than 100 trillion won in surplus cash, received a "good" rating. An official at the Ministry of Planning and Budget said, "It achieved the highest rate of return compared with global pension funds," but added, "The return accounts for 30% of the overall evaluation, so it ultimately received a good grade."