[Exclusive] Barracks Improvement Budget Cut by 50 Billion Won Due to Low Execution Rate... "2 to 4-Person Room" Overhaul Stalled

Ministry of National Defense Requests 286 Billion Won in Funding
Accepts Budget Cuts After Poor Execution Rate
Plans for New Two- to Four-Person Quarters Stalled Since COVID-19

The budget for improving military barracks for enlisted soldiers next year is expected to decrease by over 50 billion won compared to this year. Although the Ministry of National Defense's budget is poised to surpass 70 trillion won for the first time ever, the barracks improvement project has been included in the government’s expenditure restructuring, which will likely put a brake on plans to demolish old, cramped rooms and convert them into two- to four-person quarters.

On the 25th, multinational allied soldiers are maneuvering at the 3rd International Combined Arms Training Competition (K-ICTC) held at the Army Science Training Center (KCTC) urban training ground in Inje-gun, Gangwon Province. 2025.9.25 Photo by Joint Press Corps

According to relevant ministries on the 24th, the Ministry of National Defense requested 285.978 billion won for next year’s barracks improvement budget from the Office for Government Policy Coordination. This amount is 50.466 billion won (15%) less than the 336.444 billion won allocated in this year’s main budget. Among all existing fiscal projects the Ministry requested from the budgeting authority, the cut to the barracks budget was the largest. Previously, in an integrated fiscal review, the Ministry received recommendations to reduce the budget for 30 out of its 109 fiscal projects, and it responded by reducing the request for the barracks improvement budget accordingly.

The barracks improvement project was launched in 2003 as a key policy initiative during the Roh Moo-hyun administration to guarantee basic rights and boost morale by rebuilding or renovating outdated and cramped barracks for enlisted soldiers. The vulnerabilities of the old system—rooms for 8–12 people sharing sinks and toilets—became more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as such environments were found to be susceptible to the spread of infectious diseases. In response, the Ministry pushed to reduce occupancy to two to four people per room and increase individual living space from 6.3 to 10.78 square meters. Plans called for installing sinks, showers, and toilets inside living quarters to protect privacy and designing the rooms so they could serve as cohort quarantine spaces if needed.

As the project ramped up, the related budget increased sharply, rising from 133.004 billion won in 2022 to 355.251 billion won in 2023. In 2024, 311.859 billion won was allocated, and for 2025, the budget was set at 270.295 billion won.

The background for the budgeting authority’s recommendation to cut next year’s barracks improvement budget is the sluggish execution rate of the project. The average execution rate over the past three years was only 76.6%. The rate was 65.3% in 2023, jumped to 87.2% in 2024, but fell again to 77.3% this year. An official from the budgeting authority pointed out, “With issues including design and contract delays due to changing on-site conditions, delays in required consultations with other agencies, and work stoppages during winter, there was insufficient time to complete the work, leading to repeated carryovers and failure to improve the execution rate.”

The Ministry of National Defense’s 2025–2029 medium-term financial plan had set the barracks investment for 2027 at 527.28 billion won. This year’s requested amount of 285.978 billion won is only slightly more than half of that plan, highlighting the widening gap between the medium-term plan and actual requested budget. While the slow pace of execution is a concern in itself, there are growing worries that the reduction in budget will inevitably slow progress in improving the barracks environment. A Ministry of National Defense official stated, “Next year’s budget proposal is still under negotiation within the government, so it is difficult to provide a concrete answer at this time.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.