Programs worth 13 trillion won ($9.4 billion), or 16 in total, that had suffered weak execution, carryovers or unspent funds are being folded into the Future Response Fund, a 162.3 trillion won vehicle to be launched next year. Programs that failed to spend money already allocated to them have been transferred en masse to the new fund. Some of them saw their budgets sharply increased for next year despite low execution rates.
According to the office of Rep. Yoon Young-seok, a member of the National Assembly's Finance and Economic Planning Committee, 55 programs worth a combined 24.18 trillion won are being moved to the Future Response Fund from existing general and special accounts and from other funds, the lawmaker's office said on the 14th. Of those, 16 programs have been flagged for parliamentary criticism, low execution rates or large-scale carryovers and unspent funds. They account for 12.9961 trillion won.
Many of the programs in question received far larger allocations for next year. A program to nurture artificial intelligence-based distributed power grid industries posted an actual execution rate of just 0.06% through July this year, yet it has been allocated 596.86 billion won under the Future Response Fund for next year. That is more than double this year's revised plan of 275.916 billion won. The Youth Culture and Arts Pass was also cited for weak execution. Of its 17 billion won budget in 2024, only 4.241 billion won was spent and 9.51 billion won was carried over, but its budget for next year was set at 792.5 billion won, a 22-fold increase from this year, as it moved into the Future Response Fund.
Programs that scored poorly in ministries' own assessments were also included in the fund. The youth monthly rent support program was rated "inadequate" in self-assessments in both 2023 and 2024. The youth employment leap incentive program has also drawn criticism that its budget should reflect job retention rates. "Moving even programs that the National Assembly has repeatedly faulted into the Future Response Fund is not investment in the future but simply a rebranding of failing programs," Yoon said.
