Budget planners putting national security on back burner
It's not surprising that the new administration has cut defense spending earmarked in this year's original budget to raise funds for the 59 trillion won ($463 billion) extra budget President Yoon Suk-yeol proposed earlier this month to compensate small merchants hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government created about 7 trillion won by restructuring non-essential expenditures, and 23 percent of the money, or 1.5 trillion won, came from the defense budget.
Defense spending used to be considered sacrosanct. Even in tough economic times, it was not slashed, and this was taken for granted. But from a certain moment, things changed. In 2020, 1.77 trillion won in defense spending was cut for the sake of an extra budget, and nearly 570 billion won in defense spending faced the same fate last year.
What's most worrisome is that the slashed defense budgets often included expenditures for core arms improvements such as unmanned aerial vehicles targeting North Korea. Simultaneously, various outlays earmarked for the welfare of soldiers and the betterment of their living conditions were trimmed. In fact, of the 1.5 trillion won in defense spending cut for the latest supplementary budget, 555 billion won was intended to bolster the nation's defenses.
All this has prompted criticism that budget planners might be viewing the defense budget as easy money and are putting national security on the back burner. The defense ministry explains that there will be no problem in our defense posture, noting that expenses were curtailed primarily from some delayed projects due to global supply chain disruptions. But that is an utterly lame excuse, given that the proper level of defense spending is essential to ensuring watertight security.
Our defense spending has kept rising in accordance with North Korea's increased nuclear and missile threats, but the secured budgets have been spent arbitrarily without considering the big picture. The consequence has been that defense spending can be compromised at any time. A general and precise overhaul of our defense budget formulation and execution is urgently needed.
It's not surprising that the new administration has cut defense spending earmarked in this year's original budget to raise funds for the 59 trillion won ($463 billion) extra budget President Yoon Suk-yeol proposed earlier this month to compensate small merchants hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government created about 7 trillion won by restructuring non-essential expenditures, and 23 percent of the money, or 1.5 trillion won, came from the defense budget.
Defense spending used to be considered sacrosanct. Even in tough economic times, it was not slashed, and this was taken for granted. But from a certain moment, things changed. In 2020, 1.77 trillion won in defense spending was cut for the sake of an extra budget, and nearly 570 billion won in defense spending faced the same fate last year.
What's most worrisome is that the slashed defense budgets often included expenditures for core arms improvements such as unmanned aerial vehicles targeting North Korea. Simultaneously, various outlays earmarked for the welfare of soldiers and the betterment of their living conditions were trimmed. In fact, of the 1.5 trillion won in defense spending cut for the latest supplementary budget, 555 billion won was intended to bolster the nation's defenses.
All this has prompted criticism that budget planners might be viewing the defense budget as easy money and are putting national security on the back burner. The defense ministry explains that there will be no problem in our defense posture, noting that expenses were curtailed primarily from some delayed projects due to global supply chain disruptions. But that is an utterly lame excuse, given that the proper level of defense spending is essential to ensuring watertight security.
Our defense spending has kept rising in accordance with North Korea's increased nuclear and missile threats, but the secured budgets have been spent arbitrarily without considering the big picture. The consequence has been that defense spending can be compromised at any time. A general and precise overhaul of our defense budget formulation and execution is urgently needed.
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