South Korea’s presidential office on Tuesday disclosed details of its spending on special activity funds — typically allocated for classified diplomatic and national security tasks — becoming the first administration to make such data public.
The office said the move reflects its commitment to transparency, citing the public’s right to know and recent court rulings. The data was published on the presidential office’s official website.
“This marks a clear expression of the Lee Jae Myung administration’s determination to manage the national budget properly and transparently,” the office said in a statement.
According to the disclosure, the office spent a total of 464.2 million won ($332,700) in special activity funds from July 16 to the end of August. The records included itemized daily spending.
Specifically, 158 million won was used to build and maintain diplomatic, security and policy networks; 98.5 million won to gauge public sentiment and mediate social conflict; 97 million won to collect information related to policy issues, personnel matters and public service ethics; 52.2 million won to support vulnerable groups and provide condolence funds; and 58.5 million won to promote national identity and state symbolism.
The office also reported spending 978.4 million won in business operation expenses and 19.1 million won in specific task-related expenses between June and August. For each category, detailed daily expenditure records were included in the disclosure.
This is the first time the presidential office has released spending records for both special activity funds and specific task-related expenses. While business operation expenses had been partially disclosed in the past, this marks the first release of itemized daily spending, the office said.
Special activity funds, in particular, have long drawn public suspicion under previous administrations due to the lack of disclosure.
The funding was cut in December 2024 during the National Assembly’s budget review, when Democratic Party lawmakers — then in opposition — pushed to eliminate the presidential office’s 8.25 billion won special activity budget over transparency concerns, drawing anger from then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office.
The funds were later reinstated following the inauguration of President Lee. On June 19 — just over two weeks after Lee took office — the government submitted its second supplementary budget for 2025, which the National Assembly passed on July 4. The package included 4.13 billion won in special activity funds for the presidential office.
According to local reports, the 2026 national budget proposal — currently under deliberation in the Assembly — seeks to restore the presidential office’s special activity fund to its pre-cut level.
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