Government "continues to implement free high school education...35% increase in overseas publishing budget"

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that free high school education will continue based on local education financial grants, as the government's budget for free high school education has ended.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance explained this in a reference to next year's budget plan distributed today.

Regarding the report that the budget for free high school education has been drastically cut due to the end of this year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said that the state-funded sunset is in accordance with the original plan, and that free high school education will be carried out without a hitch with grants.

In addition, he said that considering the decline in the school-age population and the size of next year's grants, it is expected to be covered by the grants.

He also explained that the budget for Korean literature translation and overseas publishing increased 34.5 percent from 2.3 billion won this year to 3.1 billion won next year, while the amount of state funds for the Korea Literature Translation Institute increased 6.3 percent from this year to 14.1 billion won.

The government said that over the 26 years from 1998 to this year, the budget for Han Kang's work was 1 billion won through translation, overseas publishing support projects, and exchange programs.

In addition, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said that the budget for responding to digital sex crimes, such as deepfakes, which are fake videos based on artificial intelligence technology, has increased by 40% to 12.6 billion won next year.

In particular, he explained that the investigation and punishment budget, such as the analysis of forged videos and the tracking of illegal filming, has increased significantly from 300 million won to 3.5 billion won.

Regarding the criticism that the budget for projects related to the operation of the digital sex crime victim support center and the "right to be forgotten" was cut, he explained that it was due to the completion of the system construction and the end of the demand survey.

He also said that the budget for preventing the distribution of sex crimes and supporting victims has been partially increased or maintained at this year's level.

Regarding the budget for improving the treatment of soldiers, he explained that he doubled short-term service incentives and allowances, on-duty expenses, and housing allowances next year, and raised the upper limit on overtime pay and the salary of beginner executives.

The reduction in military meal costs next year is due to a decrease in the number of soldiers and the need to reduce food waste, and the recent unit price of meals is 13,000 won, which is high compared to other unit prices.

Pointing out that the cost of national vaccination projects has been cut, it is due to the normalization of COVID-19 vaccination due to the downward adjustment of the COVID-19 crisis stage, and explained that the existing vaccination budget, such as influenza and rotavirus, has increased slightly.

Pointing out that state funding for health insurance falls short of the legal rate, he said that in principle, health insurance should be operated on premium income, and that the size of state funding has been determined by comprehensively considering the state and health insurance financial conditions.

He also explained that the Health Promotion Fund is providing as much as the upper limit.