Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Personnel expenses at presidential office, security service rose to 10-year high in 2023
The presidential office in Seoul / Yonhap
By Anna J. Park
The personnel expenses executed last year by the Korean presidential office and the Presidential Security Service exceeded 100 billion won ($75 million), reaching the highest level in 10 years.
The two offices' personnel expenses stood at 100.7 billion won in 2023, according to Rep. Cha Gyu-geun from the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party on Monday.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance provided the related data on the expenses to the lawmaker upon his request.
This is an increase of about 6.8 percent compared to the previous year, President Yoon Suk Yeol's first year in office.
It also marks a 51 percent jump compared to 2014, almost a decade earlier, when the figure was 66.5 billion won.
Their annual operating budget, which encompasses personnel expenses, transfer payments, asset acquisition and other costs, also marked a 10-year high, posting 210.7 billion won last year.
The figure is about a 12 percent jump compared to 2022, when the presidential office relocated to Yongsan District in Seoul.
"Contrary to earlier promises to reorganize the presidential office into a more streamlined and strategic entity, it has evidently expanded," Cha said.
"With the reinstatement this year of the second office for assisting the first lady and the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, operational costs are likely to rise even further."
The relocation of the presidential office was included in Yoon's main campaign pledges.
Initially, the Government Complex in central Seoul was considered as the alternative site for the presidential office.
Yet, after Yoon was elected in March 2022, the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense was chosen and transformed into the new presidential office in May that year.