Science ministry's AI budget tops W5tr, but hacking defense gets just 1.6% of that

The Ministry of Science and ICT's AI budget this year has surpassed 5 trillion won ($3.65 billion), but funding dedicated to countering hacking amounts to just 1.6 percent of that figure, according to a new analysis.

Rep. Lee Hoon-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said Thursday that data obtained from the Ministry of Science and ICT showed the ministry's AI budget this year stands at 5.09 trillion won. By contrast, the budget for hacking prevention and response was limited to 79.06 billion won — just 1.6 percent of the AI allocation.

According to Lee, the ministry's AI budget has grown rapidly over the past three years. It rose from 1.14 trillion won in 2024 to 3.41 trillion won last year, reaching 5.09 trillion won this year — a 345.9 percent increase from 2024.

Over the same period, the hacking-response budget grew far more slowly, moving from 63.44 billion won in 2024 to 79.48 billion won in 2025 before slipping to 79.06 billion won this year — a cumulative increase of just 24.6 percent from 2024.

As a share of the AI budget, hacking-response funding has fallen sharply: from 5.6 percent in 2024 to 2.3 percent in 2025 and 1.6 percent this year, reflecting a widening gap between the pace of AI spending and cybersecurity investment.

The ministry's total information security and cybersecurity budget grew from 325.14 billion won in 2024 to 366.3 billion won this year, but its share of the AI budget fell from 28 percent to 7.2 percent over the same period.

The Ministry of Science and ICT oversees not only the promotion of the AI industry but also information security and responses to hacking and cyber incidents. Its second-half work plan for this year listed investigations into private-sector hacking incidents, a comprehensive information security initiative, and the development of security-specialized AI models and vulnerability assessments as key priorities. Despite this, the ministry's hacking-response budget this year fell 423 million won — about 0.5 percent — from last year.

"Expanding the budget to secure AI competitiveness is an absolutely necessary investment in the AI era," Lee said. "However, as AI use grows, so do hacking and cyber threats, which means security investment to keep that environment safe must also expand in tandem. At the upcoming national audit, I will press the government on specific measures and plans to strengthen the cybersecurity and incident-prevention budget."