Korean National Police Agency Sets 2025 Budget at 14.2621 Trillion Won for Anti-Phishing, Drug Crackdowns; Up 5.4% from This Year

[The Financial News] The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) has set its budget for next year at 14.2621 trillion won.
According to the KNPA on the 8th, the 2026 budget is set at 14.2621 trillion won, a 5.4% increase from this year. Of this, the main project budget is 2.7046 trillion won, up 4.1% from the previous year.
The KNPA has allocated next year’s budget with a focus on: tailored responses to eradicate crimes affecting people's livelihoods and transnational crimes; proactive measures against risk factors and establishing community safety order; and strengthening police job capabilities in response to changes in the security environment.

First, the KNPA will strengthen the investigative foundation for responding to crimes affecting people's livelihoods, such as phishing and drug offenses, and will concentrate budget resources on enhancing the response to crimes targeting vulnerable groups, including digital sex crimes and relationship-based offenses.
To this end, the budget for the Joint Response Team for Telecommunications Financial Fraud and the Phishing Investigation Division at Provincial and Metropolitan Police Agencies has been increased by 1.91 billion won. Additionally, 860 million won has been newly allocated to establish the Caller Information Notification Service to prevent phishing scams impersonating investigative agencies. The budget for virtual asset crime proceeds tracing education is set at 100 million won, and the total budget for responding to fraud crimes has increased by 51.8%, from 5.54 billion won this year to 8.41 billion won next year.
The budget for responding to transnational crimes has also been significantly expanded. The operating expenses for overseas personnel dispatched to combat scam crime have increased by 1.18 billion won, and 970 million won has been newly allocated for the establishment of an International Cooperation System. With the expansion of the budget for international cooperation operations for the extradition of fugitives abroad and the eradication of scam crimes in Southeast Asia, the budget for overseas security cooperation has increased by 113.4% to 4.63 billion won compared to this year.
Additionally, the budget for expanding the investigative foundation for drug crimes has more than doubled to 3.47 billion won, and the research and development (R&D) budget for technologies such as fake video detection and undercover investigation has increased by 63.9% to 9.75 billion won.

The KNPA has also significantly increased its budget for investment in personnel, equipment, and systems to strengthen proactive response capabilities to risk factors.
The number of new police recruits and trainees will be increased from 4,800 to 6,400 per year, and the related budget has been raised by 25.9%, from 37.53 billion won this year to 47.23 billion won next year. To improve response to disasters, accidents, and incidents, new budgets totaling 1.57 billion won have been allocated, including 720 million won for specialized training in handling the 112 Police Emergency Number, 460 million won for establishing a strategic plan for the next-generation 112 Police Emergency Number system based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 390 million won for a counter-terrorism intelligence analysis program.
The budget for strengthening the response to major risks such as firearms and explosives has also increased significantly. Nine hundred million won has been newly allocated to build a system that continuously monitors risk information such as homemade firearm production on Social Networking Service (SNS) platforms using AI technology, and the budget for strengthening safety management of firearms, explosives, and swords has increased by 1.11 billion won. With an additional 810 million won for the supply of bulletproof shields, the total budget for on-site response has grown by 183.1%, from 1.54 billion won this year to 4.36 billion won next year.
Furthermore, 6.4 billion won has been newly allocated to upgrade the local police work system for crime prevention activities such as patrol route designation using big data, and 340 million won for establishing an automatic entry system for shared entrances.

In response to the changing security environment, the budget to improve on-site response and enhance the speed and accountability of investigations has also been greatly increased.
The budget for strengthening on-site response capabilities, including Extended Reality (XR) and Virtual Reality (VR) based training, practical physical force training, and expansion of local police field training centers, has increased by 185.2% to 4.05 billion won compared to this year. With increased budgets for next-generation outer vests with improved wearability and stab-resistance, as well as low-risk handguns and ammunition, the budget for on-site response equipment has surged by 347.2%, from 5.53 billion won this year to 24.73 billion won next year.
The budget for upgrading the investigation support system using generative AI has been expanded to 2.83 billion won. In line with the implementation of the Electronic Criminal Procedure Documents Act, 9.74 billion won has been newly allocated to build a scan system for the next-generation Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services (KICS) for digitizing investigation documents, resulting in a related budget increase of 469% to 15.25 billion won. Additionally, the budget for organizational health and welfare, including the construction of Asan Police Hospital, expansion of the Mind Companion Center, and enhancement of special health checkups, has increased by 32.7% to 20.3 billion won.
A KNPA official stated, “With the secured budget, we will further strengthen on-site response and investigative expertise from next year, realizing a responsible police force for the people.”
welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yoo-ha Reporter