By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
As part of the government's budget plans revealed Thursday, funding will be provided to electronically tag habitual sexual offenders.
Convicted sexual criminals will have to wear electronic wristbands from next year, which will help police monitor their whereabouts at all times in an attempt to prevent repeated crimes.
The government plans to spend 8.7 billion won next year for the introduction of the electronic device. The device will first go on trial in October next year and be fully implemented by 2009 at a cost of 9.7 billion won.
The Ministry of Planning and Budget said that next year's budget spending will increase by nearly 8 percent as it promoted this and several other social welfare plans.
An electronic device called ``U-Care'' will be installed in some 5,000 houses of those aged 65 and over who live alone to monitor their activities and alert authorities in cases of illness.
A total of 2.1 billion won will be spent on mineworkers who were sent to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, to recognize their efforts and contribution to Korea's economic development.
The budget also includes spending 8.5 billion won on a memorial hall for comfort women, who were forced to serve the Japanese army as sex slaves during World War II, to be opened in October 2010.
Some 31.3 billion won will go to funding construction over two years of multiplex theaters for low-budge art films or independent movies be built to help the local moviegoers enjoy a diversity of films along with commercial movies.
To prevent damage to national parks, the government will hire 576 additional park rangers, at an annual outlay of 6.7 billion won, to monitor 18 national parks nationwide.