[2027 Budget Proposal] Foreign Ministry Allocates 3.7 Trillion Won... Cybersecurity Budget Quadrupled After Korea National Diplomatic Academy Hacking Incident

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to submit a 2027 budget proposal totaling 3.7033 trillion won to the National Assembly. This is a 2.4% increase from this year’s budget of 3.6152 trillion won. In particular, following the hacking incident at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, the budget for cybersecurity has been increased by more than four times compared to this year.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 1, the general account budget proposal for 2027 was set at 3.6518 trillion won, a 2.5% increase from this year. The Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget was set at 2.1642 trillion won, a 1% decrease. This marks the first time that the ODA budget has been reduced for two consecutive years.

Among the budget increases for next year, the security-related category stands out. The cybersecurity budget, which was 3.8 billion won this year, will be increased to 15.5 billion won next year, more than quadrupling. The budget for building and operating information protection and diplomatic information systems, which includes cybersecurity, will rise significantly from 11.6 billion won this year to 26.2 billion won next year, with most of the increase allocated to cybersecurity.

This appears to be a response to the hacking incident at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy that came to light in July. The Academy’s online education system was exposed to external attacks for ten months from April last year to February this year, resulting in a security breach in which the personal information of virtually all South Korean diplomats was presumed to have been leaked.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "We will significantly strengthen our cybersecurity capabilities to effectively respond to the rapidly increasing and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats." He added, "Through this, we aim to more safely protect the core information assets and information systems in the diplomacy and security sectors and establish a stable foundation for the performance of diplomatic work."

The ODA budget, which accounts for about 60% of the total budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been reduced for the second consecutive year. The contribution to the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was set at 1.1206 trillion won, a decrease of 1.6% (18.3 billion won) from this year. Humanitarian aid was also reduced by 15.3% (48.6 billion won) to 270.3 billion won. On the other hand, contributions to international organizations increased by 8.0% (55.7 billion won) to 754.1 billion won. An official from the Ministry explained, "We will support the follow-up measures of summit diplomacy and strengthen the international community’s response to global issues such as health and energy security."

Additionally, since South Korea is expected to serve as the chair country for the 2028 G20 Summit, a new budget of 2.3 billion won has been allocated to prepare for related events. Furthermore, a new 1.5 billion won budget was set for strengthening AI diplomacy, and 3.9 billion won was allocated for strengthening overseas mission facilities and fire prevention. An official from the Ministry added, "In order to be prepared for risk situations such as the crisis in the Middle East and to enhance safety, we requested new allocations from the financial authorities."

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