Government’s PR Budget to Rise 17%

The public relations budget for government agencies next year will increase 17.6 percent compared to this year, according to a report the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB) submitted to Grand National Party (GNP) lawmaker Lee Kei-kyung on November 20.

The report states that the entire public relations budget for government bodies next year will total 130.6 billion won, a 17.6 percent increase from this year’s 111.1 billion won.

Out of the total budget, the public relations budget for the ministries and offices and committees of the administration totals 126 billion won, and the budget for the independent constitutional institutions, including the National Election Commission (NEC), National Assembly and the Constitutional Court, stands at 4.6 billion won.

The Government Information Agency (GIA) has the biggest public relations budget with 30.7 billion won, followed by the Ministry of National Defense (27.4 billion won), the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (15.2 billion won) and the National Tax Service (5.1 billion won).

Lee stated, “The public relations budget should be frozen at this year’s level in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings because the government’s policy advertisements could be abused in local elections to be held next year.”

At a policy general meeting of the Uri Party on November 17 concerning the reason behind the increase in the public relations budget for government offices next year, the MPB said, “it’s essential to form a national consensus in achieving the policy goal, and there are a lot of special needs next year such as local elections, the opening of the rice market, and the advertisement of Korea’s national image abroad.”

Kang-Myoung Chang tesomiom@donga.com