Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Government earmarks 57.1 trillion won for defense budget for 2023: Increase of 4.6% compared to the previous year

Strengthening capability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles and creation of a barracks environment for future generations

The government will earmark 57 trillion and 126.8 billion won to the defense budget for 2023, an increase of 4.6% compared to the main budget for 2022, and submit it to the National Assembly on September 2.

Despite the trend of a high level of sound fiscal management, the government has focused on allocating resources to the defense area in consideration of the seriousness of the current security situation.

The government has increased the growth rate of the defense budget from 3.4% to 4.6%, while radically reducing the government’s total expenditure growth rate from 8.9% to 5.2%.

The defense budget growth rate of 4.6% is the second-highest after foreign affairs and unification among the twelve expenditure areas of the central government, excluding local subsidy tax and education subsidy.

The government has earmarked 17 trillion and 17.9 billion won for the defense capability improvement cost to build military strength, an increase of 2.0% compared to the previous year, and earmarked 40 trillion and 108.9 billion won for the force management cost to manage military strength, an increase of 5.8% compared to the previous year.