Next year's budget for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has been set at 76.5 trillion won. Excluding the grant-in-aid (non-earmarked tax) that is automatically sent to local governments linked to national taxes, as well as personnel costs and basic expenses, the ministry's own project funds amount to approximately 67 trillion won, an increase of over 2 trillion won compared to the previous year. Of this, about 20% will be allocated to support the issuance of local love gift certificates.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety noted on the 2nd that it has prepared a budget plan for 2026 amounting to 76.4426 trillion won. The grant-in-aid (non-earmarked tax) accounts for 69.3459 trillion won, while personnel costs and basic expenses total 4.302 trillion won.
The remaining project funds amount to a record high of 6.6665 trillion won. This budget is an increase of 2.03 trillion won compared to this year's main budget, marking the largest increase ever. The scale of the ministry's project funds has fluctuated between 4 trillion and 5 trillion won each year from 2021 to 2025.
The project with the largest allocated budget is in the field of "Regional development and balanced growth," with 25.921 trillion won set aside. Of this, national funding for the issuance of "local love gift certificates" has been budgeted at 11.5 trillion won, accounting for 17% of the total project budget. The main budget for local love gift certificates was 0 won this year. However, through the supplementary budget for the first and second rounds this year, 4 trillion won and 6 trillion won have been allocated, respectively.
▲ 1 trillion won for the local extinction response fund ▲ 199.4 billion won for developing basic living infrastructure in special circumstance regions like border areas and islands that are isolated due to geographical conditions ▲ 79.9 billion won for areas surrounding U.S. military base donation zones have also been allocated.
The second largest budget (25.197 trillion won) was allocated to the field of "Ensuring public safety." 1.0488 trillion won will be allocated for restoring disaster-risk areas due to heavy rainfall and typhoons, and 1.1 trillion won is earmarked for disaster response costs. Plans to deploy advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and drones for disaster prediction and monitoring systems in response to climate anomalies also received funding, with 500 million won allocated for establishing the "National Public Safety Industry Fund."
In addition, the ministry will invest 864.9 billion won in the field of "Implementing an AI democratic government" and 689.8 billion won in "Social integration and resolution of past issues." The budget related to resolving past issues includes ▲ 18.4 billion won for the establishment of national-level memorial facilities for civilian victims before and after the Korean War ▲ 860 million won for supporting and operating investigations into forced mobilization during the anti-Japanese struggle period ▲ 320 million won for establishing the National Center for Healing Trauma from State Violence.
The government budget proposal will be submitted to the National Assembly on this day, and it is expected to be finalized through the National Assembly's plenary session in December.