A visitor pays his respects at the independence patriots' section of Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 11. The Veterans Ministry cut the cemetery's running costs last year to cover staff salaries.YONHAP
The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs shifted roughly 7.3 billion won ($5.3 million) in budget outlays from other programs to cover civil servant payroll over the past two years, it was revealed.
The office of People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Shin Dong-uk, a member of the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, said Tuesday that the ministry trimmed 30 program budgets last year, including budgets for national cemetery operations and funeral assistance for low-income people recognized for service to the state, and redirected about 4.5 billion won to salaries at its headquarters and regional offices.
The ministry had 106.7 billion won budgeted for civil servant salaries in 2025 but determined that it would not be enough.
About 43 percent of the money used to cover the shortfall came from cemetery-related programs. The ministry cut about 1.9 billion won from operating budgets for Seoul National Cemetery, Daejeon National Cemetery and national cemeteries commemorating the April 19, March 15 and May 18 democracy movements.
Those programs had received an additional 8.3 billion won through a supplementary budget earlier in 2025. The ministry reduced some of that funding again in December and redirected it to payroll.
The ministry also shifted about 270 million won from programs for people of national merit. The cuts included about 150 million won from funeral assistance for recipients in financial hardship and 80 million won from operating state-managed burial sites.
The ministry made similar reallocations in 2024, moving about 2.7 billion won to personnel costs. That included about 880 million won from a program providing uniforms to Vietnam War veterans, 380 million won from operations at the Independence Hall of Korea and 330 million won from programs helping discharged service members return to civilian life.
Soldiers carry the remains of Korean War dead at a joint burial ceremony at Daejeon National Cemetery in Yuseong District, Daejeon, on June 29.NEWS1
The amount redirected from other programs rose from 2.7 billion won in 2024 to 4.5 billion won last year, roughly a two-thirds increase.
"Cutting even funeral services for people of national merit and national cemetery budgets to cover personnel costs shifts the burden of failed budget planning onto people of national merit," PPP lawmaker Shin said. "The ministry needs to come up with measures to prevent this kind of budget reshuffling from happening again."
"Personnel costs are essential expenses for operating the ministry," the ministry said. "We covered the personnel shortfall with funds left after individual programs were carried out. No other program was disrupted."
Article 46 of the National Finance Act allows heads of central government agencies to reallocate money between budget items within the budget's intended purpose to use funds efficiently, subject to approval from the Minister of Planning and Budget or within authority delegated by the minister.
"The personnel shortfall arose because promotion bottlenecks led to long-service promotions and some departments operated above their authorized staffing levels," a ministry official said. "We will work to ensure appropriate budget execution in the future."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
