Foreign Ministry sets next year's budget at W3.7tr, boosts international organization contributions

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday that it had drawn up a budget proposal of 3.7033 trillion won ($2.7 billion) for next year, a 2.4 percent increase from this year. However, the ministry's Official Development Assistance budget will shrink from 2.1861 trillion won this year to 2.1642 trillion won next year — a reduction of 21.9 billion won — marking the first time the ministry's ODA budget has declined for two consecutive years.

Contributions to international organizations will rise from 698.4 billion won this year to 754.1 billion won next year. The ministry said it plans to faithfully follow through on summit diplomacy commitments while strengthening the international community's response to global challenges including health security and energy security.

South Korea is set to chair the G20 summit — the premier forum for international economic cooperation — in 2028. In preparation, 2.3 billion won has been newly allocated to cover related costs.

A new budget of 1.5 billion won has also been set aside to strengthen AI diplomacy. The ministry plans to deepen bilateral and multilateral AI cooperation with leading nations, take a more active role in AI governance discussions at international organizations and multilateral forums, and support South Korean AI companies seeking to expand overseas through its overseas missions.

The public culture diplomacy budget will increase from 25.6 billion won this year to 29.8 billion won next year. The ministry plans to bolster support for public diplomacy programs at overseas missions — including Korea Week events — to raise the country's profile as a cultural power and to give young people opportunities to participate in diplomatic work through citizen-involvement initiatives. In particular, the number of young people from outside the capital dispatched to overseas missions will expand from 50 this year to 80, broadening opportunities for young Koreans to step onto the international stage.

The ministry will also significantly strengthen its cybersecurity capabilities to counter increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. The budget for information security and diplomatic information system construction and operations will rise from 11.6 billion won this year to 26.2 billion won next year, while the dedicated cybersecurity budget will more than quadruple from 3.8 billion won to 15.5 billion won.