Gyeonggi Province Calls for More National Funding After Firefighters Became National Government Employees

Gyeonggi Province has urged the central government and the National Assembly to increase national funding in line with the purpose of making firefighters national government employees and to improve the system to secure stable funding for firefighting.

Hong Eungwang, a spokesperson for Gyeonggi Province, said in a written briefing on Monday, October 19, “Even after firefighters became national government employees, national funding’s share of total firefighting finances has actually fallen below its level 10 years ago.” He added, “We ask the central government and the National Assembly to respond to the wishes of 70,000 firefighters.”

The 2020 transition of firefighters to national government employees was intended to narrow differences in working conditions caused by regional disparities in fiscal capacity and to allow firefighters to focus on protecting people’s lives and safety. However, as of 2026, national funding accounted for just 10.7% of the total 8.5967 trillion won in firefighting finances. This was actually lower than the 11% recorded in 2015.

Gyeonggi Provincial Government

Gyeonggi Province also has a low share of national funding in its firefighting budget. Under the province’s second supplementary budget for 2026, national funding accounts for just 92.1 billion won, or 7.7%, of the 1.1973 trillion won allocated for firefighters’ salaries. In addition, the Fire Safety Grant is expected to fall by 27.6% in 2027 compared with this year, further increasing the fiscal burden.

Gyeonggi Province is also pursuing system improvements to secure stable funding for firefighting. In particular, it has proposed replacing the portion of the local education tax derived from tobacco consumption tax, which is scheduled to expire this year, with the firefighting portion of the Local Resource Facility Tax. The province is working to have a related bill introduced in the National Assembly. The aim is to reduce reliance on specific revenue sources and secure stable funding for firefighting.

“Now that the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee and Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee have concluded their audits of Gyeonggi Province, we hope the audits will lead to system improvements to expand firefighting funds,” Hong said.

He added, “Gyeonggi Province believes that this audit has helped build public consensus on the need to secure stable funding for firefighting. The central government and the National Assembly should take active steps to expand national funding and improve the system to enhance firefighters’ working conditions and protect public safety.”

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