| President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shake hands after signing a set of agreements at their summit in Pyongyang in September. / Korea Times file |
By Kim Bo-eun
The government has allocated 1.1 trillion won ($977 million) for inter-Korean affairs for next year, according to the unification ministry, Monday.
This is up 15 percent from the 959 billion won fund this year, reflecting the reconciliatory mood that developed between the Koreas, as the leaders held three summits and reached agreements to promote peace.
"The budget was drawn up to give an impetus to carrying out agreements reached between the South and North and develop sustainable inter-Korean ties," a unification ministry official said.
The budget includes 5.9 billion won that was set up to enable video meetings between family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their summit in September to enable separated family members to have video meetings to see each other more often, as they are elderly and in-person meetings cannot be held frequently.
Funds were also drawn up for forestry cooperation, to help the North with forest pest control and to modernize its tree nurseries.
Moreover, 572 billion won has been set for humanitarian issues, 504 billion won for inter-Korean economic cooperation and 20 billion won for inter-Korean exchanges.
The ministry said funds for inter-Korean cooperation will be used to "create grounds for economic cooperation, within the framework of sanctions on the North." Sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile provocations ban economic cooperation with the regime. Therefore, inter-Korean cooperation projects are only in their early stages, which do not involve violating sanctions. One is the project to connect inter-Korean railways and roads. Currently, inspections of railway sections in the North are taking place.
Meanwhile, the unification ministry's budget was set at 220 billion won, a 3.4 percent decrease from the previous year.
The ministry official said this was because the plan to launch a foundation for North Korean human rights was put off.
The ministry had been spending funds for the past years on paying the rent for an office for the foundation, but decided earlier this year not to extend the rental contract as the launch of the foundation continues to be delayed.
In addition, based on a fall in the number of North Koreans defecting to the South, the ministry has also set up less expenditure for them. Individual subsidies for defectors, however, have been increased by 1 million won to 8 million won.
The ministry has increased the budget for education on unification. The budget for inter-Korean meetings was doubled to 1.5 billion won.
The National Assembly on Saturday passed the government's budget plan for next year.