[Actually] President Yoon "The National Assembly cuts the budget for drones"

Regarding the North Korean drone provocation, a budget controversy has recently arisen in the political world.

The departure was the remarks of President Yoon Seok-yeol at the cabinet meeting on the 27th.

President Yoon said, "This incident clearly confirmed that our military's preparedness and training have been very lacking over the past few years."

It was read to emphasize the responsibility of the National Assembly.

Then, Democratic Party members of the National Assembly National Defense Committee immediately held a press conference.

Democratic Party defense committee members said, "The fact that the budget was cut in the National Assembly was also agreed upon by the ruling and opposition parties and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration." It is.

This time, on the contrary, it means that the government did not take care of the defense budget properly.

Today (31st), we are going to verify all the remarks of President Yoon Seok-yeol and Democratic Party members of the National Defense Committee.

The SBS fact was confirmed by the team.

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President Yoon Seok-yeol, speaking at a cabinet meeting on the 27th.

First, let's look at President Yoon's claim that the National Assembly cut half of this year's budget for North Korean drones.

In fact, the team analyzed all of the defense budgets among the 2023 budget bill passed last week.

Only the project name is written in the budget, so it is difficult to determine which budget is related to North Korean drones and which is not.

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Yang Wook, Associate Research Fellow, The Asan Institute for Policy Studies

Accordingly, with the help of Associate Research Fellow Yang Wook of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, among the defense budget cuts by the National Assembly, we determined whether the budget was related to the defense of North Korean drones.

Associate Research Fellow Yang-wook said, “Important Facility Alert System” is a project that contributes to UAV reconnaissance and defense, and “Short Range Reconnaissance Drone” and “Coastal Patrol UAV” are projects to strengthen South Korean UAVs in response to North Korean UAVs. I picked.

We looked at how these three projects were coordinated in the National Assembly.

The specific details of the business were also written together.

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The budget for these three projects was cut by 46.8 billion won.

Rather, it was analyzed that about 66%, which is more than the 50% that President Yoon said, was reduced.

This time, I went further and looked at the entire 21st National Assembly.

The 21st National Assembly, which was launched at the end of May 2020, reviewed the budget bill three times: 2021, 2022, and 2023.

As President Yoon emphasized the responsibility of the National Assembly now, the purpose is to look at all three budgets reviewed by the 21st National Assembly.

Likewise, with the help of Associate Research Fellow Yang-wook, I narrowed down the budget related to North Korean drone defense.

This budget review standard does not reflect supplementary budget, etc.

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Based on this budget, although there is an increased budget, the 21st National Assembly was calculated to cut a total of 36.5 billion won from the budget directly or indirectly related to North Korean drones.

In terms of numbers, it was reduced by about 49%.

In the 21st National Assembly, we were able to confirm that the related budget was cut by nearly half.

In fact, the team judges President Seok-yeol Yoon's remarks as 'mostly true'.

However, if the purpose of President Yoon Seok-yeol's remarks is to emphasize the 'irresponsibility' of the National Assembly, there are aspects that can be interpreted differently.

The Ministry of National Defense issued the following press release on the 24th, right after the 2023 budget was passed, before the president's remarks.

It says it was written on the 23rd.

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In other words, projects that have been cut in budget, including the short-range reconnaissance drone project that can be classified as a North Korean drone-related budget, are only adjusted in consideration of the progress, and there is no problem with the promotion itself.

When I asked the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, they told me that they could not give a specific explanation.

However, when I asked the National Assembly Defense Committee, the answer came, "There is practically no change in the total project cost. There was some delay in the project progress, so it can be regarded as being transferred to the next budget."

In the end, President Yoon's remarks are superficially true, but the specific context is lacking.

Next, let's take a look at the Democratic Party's defense committee members' arguments against President Yoon's claim.

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On the 27th, Democratic Party members of the National Assembly Defense Committee held an emergency press conference.

Members of the Democratic Party of the National Assembly National Defense Committee said, "Rather, the National Assembly added new forces that the Yoon Seok-yeol government did not take care of at all in order to respond to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles." I've heard of that case. 

In fact, when the team looked at next year's budget bill, the above projects were not submitted by the government, but the budget newly set by the National Assembly was correct.

18.8 billion won for the FX 2nd project, 27.8 billion won for the Cheolmae-II performance improvement 2nd project, and 12.7 billion won for the tactical ground guided weapon-II project.

Likewise, the following is also written in the press release issued by the Department of Defense after the passage of the budget bill.

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In fact, the team judges the claims of the defense committee members of the Democratic Party as 'mostly true'.

However, I will try to examine this part carefully.

The above remarks are read as meaning that the National Assembly has taken good care of the defense budget. How much effort did the 21st National Assembly spend on the defense budget during the three budget review processes?

In fact, the team looked at how the National Assembly adjusted the defense budget among the three budgets, and among them, the budget classified as 'defense improvement field'.

Likewise, this budget review standard does not reflect supplementary budgets, etc.

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Based on this budget review, it was calculated that the 21st National Assembly reduced the defense capability improvement budget by 823.1 billion won in three budget reviews.

This time, in the field of defense capability improvement, the budget for reconnaissance-related projects, which became more necessary due to the North Korean drone provocation, was separately selected and reanalyzed.

It is listed as a 'command reconnaissance project' in the budget item.

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KRW 354.4 billion was reduced.

In addition to the command and reconnaissance project, the field of defense capability improvement is classified into the mobile firepower project, the guided weapon project, the ship project, the aircraft project, the defense project policy support, and the administrative support.

The 21st National Assembly cut nearly half of the defense capability improvement projects from command and reconnaissance projects.

When I asked the National Assembly again, "It is true that there are several budgets that have been drastically reduced, including the air controller project, during the defense budget review process" "I can't" was the answer.

However, an official from the National Assembly explained on the premise of anonymity, “In the past three years, the cash support budget has increased significantly due to the corona pandemic, and since it cannot be covered by government bonds, the large-scale defense project is voluntarily There is a half-delayed aspect. Overall, it is true that the reduction in the defense budget was the largest."

In other words, there is an aspect in which the defense budget has become an opportunity cost in the expansionary fiscal stance.

It is difficult to directly prove the relevance of this drone provocation and budget cuts.

However, it is natural that the government and the National Assembly should dispel people's security concerns through the budget.

The government has announced that it will invest 560 billion won in countermeasures over the next five years in the wake of this drone provocation.

Already "Another Countermeasure"

The SBS Truth Team verified two claims related to the defense budget together today.

President Yoon's claim that "the National Assembly cut half of this year's budget related to North Korean drones" and Democratic Party members of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee claiming that "the National Assembly took the defense budget that the Yoon Seok-yeol government did not."

If you look specifically at the meaning, they are contradictory claims, but both claims can be judged as 'mostly true'.

However, the team's conclusion is that there are many things to think about if you carefully examine why the National Assembly cut the budget for North Korean drones and how the National Assembly has taken care of the defense budget so far.

This is because there are different levels of budgeting.