Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

An increase of 2 trillion and 687.4 billion won was resolved in the National Assembly plenary session;
The increase reflects new funding for COVID-19 measures, including giving masks to soldiers;
2nd Baekdu system capability reinforcement project added 

A national defense budget of 52 trillion and 840.1 billion won has been finalized for 2021, which is an increase of 5.4% compared to the previous year. On December 2, the National Assembly decided to allocate 52 trillion and 840.1 billion won to the defense budget for 2021, which is an increase of 2 trillion and 687.4 billion won (5.4%) compared to the 2020 budget of 50 trillion and 152.7 billion won, in its plenary session.
The government earmarked 52 trillion and 917.4 billion won as the defense budget for 2021 so that our military can actively respond to non-traditional threats, such as infectious diseases and terror, as well as take proactive measures against omnidirectional security threats, and submitted it to the National Assembly. In the deliberation process of the National Assembly, the government's draft budget was reduced by 287.1 billion won, but was then increased by 209.7 billion won by reflecting funding for securing additional masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and a deposit for new 14 defensive strength improvement projects, including the defense satellite communication system-Ⅱ.

Significantly, this defense budget included funds allocated to containing the spread of COVID-19 in the military. The budget for providing soldiers with masks was set to 48.7 billion and 65 million won, an increase of 16.1 billion and 36 million won compared to the government’s draft budget of 32.6 billion and 29 million won. Also, funding to allow soldiers to buy group insurance was set to 15.3 billion and 13 million won, an increase of about 1.8 billion won compared to the government’s draft budget (13.4 billion and 47 million won).

There is also a budget for new projects, which was not included in the government’s draft budget. Significantly, a budget of 7.1 billion and 89 million won for the localization of materials of combat uniforms was added during the process of deliberation by the National Assembly. A budget of 945 million won was newly earmarked for the construction of guard posts (GP) and magazines of troops which had been damaged by heavy rain this year.

Of the projects in the government’s draft budget that saw reductions, the most significant reductions were in facilities construction. The National Assembly reduced the construction budget for infrastructure projects by 12.3 billion and 20 million won.

The budget for the 2nd research and development (R&D) for the Baekdu system capability reinforcement and the defense satellite communication system-Ⅱ project was also earmarked as defense strength improvement expenses.

The 2nd Baekdu system capability reinforcement project is a project to secure a weapons system to collect signal intelligence around the Korean Peninsula. The ministry and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration planned to carry out this project through domestic R&D. The National Assembly decided to distribute 61.7 billion won out of the budget for the next year to the R&D for the 2nd Baekdu system capability reinforcement. There was also an increase of the budget for the defense satellite communication system-Ⅱ (46.9 billion and 27 million won) and the R&D for the combined military intelligence system (21.1 billion and 42 million won).

Meanwhile, the budget for the Black Eagle-B Batch-Ⅱ project to introduce new naval patrol killers was reduced by 109.6 billion and 33 million won due to a change in driving conditions.

By Su-Yeol, Maeng <guns13@dema.mil.kr >

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