Korea's budget minister to review fire service funding in Assembly budget talks

Planning and Budget Minister Park Hong-geun said on 21 October that the government will examine, during the National Assembly's deliberation of next year's budget, which parts of fire service funding need supplementing. He spoke at the ministry's press room at the Sejong government complex. He said it is a national responsibility to create an environment where those who sacrifice for the state and people can carry out their duties more safely. [ 1 , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 ]

Park said no internal discussion has yet taken place on how to improve fire funding. He said the ministry would look into the matter with Cheong Wa Dae, the Interior Ministry, the National Fire Agency and local governments, including how much the tobacco consumption tax has fallen, its effect on localities and the finances of each local government's fire special account. He also said large tax shortfalls in 2023 and 2024 and falling tobacco consumption had hit local governments hard, and that he understood the Democratic Party was reviewing various proposals. [ 1 , 4 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]

The issue came to a head after Gyeonggi governor Chu Mi-ae said at the 13 October audit of the province that the fire service is like the biggest headache of a fiscal straw. According to Chosun Ilbo, she later said she had meant to explain that central government support was insufficient, and apologized. Hankook Ilbo reported that firefighter Kim Jin-seok (김진석) died on 17 October fighting a Bucheon factory fire, which intensified criticism of her remark. On 21 October, firefighters and Democratic Party lawmaker Song Young-gil (송영길) held a news conference at the National Assembly. [ 1 , 7 , 8 , 11 ]

Firefighters became national civil servants in 2020, but local governments still carry much of the cost. The fire safety subsidy tax is funded by 45% of the tobacco consumption tax, and the 2027 budget bill sets it at 760.5 billion won, 289.7 billion won (27.6%) below this year's 1.0502 trillion won. Seoul Economic Daily gave the fall as 289.8 billion won. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that tobacco sales fell from 3.63 billion packs in 2022 to 3.529 billion in 2024. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 8 , 9 ]

On the national share, Hankook Ilbo and Kyunghyang Shinmun said national funds made up 869.7 billion won, or 10.7%, of a fire budget of about 8.1478 trillion won last year. Asia Economy, citing the National Assembly Research Service, gave 11.4% of 8.5949 trillion won this year. [ 4 , 7 , 9 ]

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the Planning and Budget Ministry internally sees a high chance of fire-related budget being increased in the Assembly. It said President Lee Jae-myung on 20 October told a cabinet meeting that core public-safety functions such as fire and police need major overhaul and reinforcement. [ 9 ]

Park also answered questions on other matters. On the Future Response Fund, he repeated that his target of returns at least 1.7 percentage points above the three-year treasury bond yield, made at the 8 October audit, reflected average pension fund returns. He rejected opposition claims that the fund is a slush fund and said its purpose is not to create new national wealth. On treasury bond issuance he said nothing has been decided, and he said a '2045' national strategy is targeted for announcement at year end. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 10 ]