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PPP slams Lee administration's 'superficial' AI budget proposals and high AI spending levels

Published: 27 Nov. 2025, 20:19

President Lee Jae Myung speaks during an announcement of the 2026 government budget at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Nov. 4. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The People Power Party (PPP) is criticizing the Lee Jae Myung administration’s 10.1 trillion won ($6.9 billion) AI budget, calling it a “superficial budget” for a collection of so-called AI projects with “little to no connection” to actual system development.

At the heart of the criticisms are claims that the government is attempting to replace welfare services that require human interaction with AI, and that it allocated funds without concrete planning.

Lawmakers also allege violations of the National Finance Act by allocating 892 billion won without properly reviewing the feasibility of the projects.

According to a copy of the PPP’s internal document titled “Top 100 Problematic Budget Projects for the 2026 Fiscal Year” (translated), obtained by the JoongAng Ilbo, the party sharply criticized the government's AI spending.

Particular scrutiny was directed at new welfare-linked AI projects in the 2026 budget, including a 552 million won project by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to provide AI-based welfare checks for older, isolated national veterans, and a 10.5 billion won project by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to develop AI-driven psychological care services aimed at preventing solitary deaths.

These initiatives involve actions, for instance, like installing sensors on refrigerators to detect whether a door has been opened — and triggering a welfare check if no activity is detected over a three-day period. The psychological care project aims to use AI tools to detect and respond to mental health issues linked to isolation.

The PPP argued that these initiatives are “low in effectiveness,” saying that “they are far removed from genuine caregiving” and that strengthening real-time, human-centered welfare systems would be more effective than building simple AI monitoring frameworks.

Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon, back row center, speaks during a National Assembly session on AI development at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Nov. 24. [YONHAP]

The party also flagged cases where substantial budgets were proposed without concrete operational plans. One example is the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s plan to launch 30 AI-specialized joint training centers, for which 15 billion won has been allocated.

In a written explanation sent to the party last month, the Labor Ministry said the goal was to train skilled workers by offering AI-based job training aligned with the needs of small and mid-sized enterprises. However, it admitted that “a detailed operation plan is being developed and will be submitted at a later date.”

“It’s unacceptable that the ministry itself admits to not having a concrete plan for a project worth billions,” the PPP said in its internal report.

While not included in the PPP’s top 100 list, another project facing criticism is the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 2.9 billion won K-Whiskey Strategy Development Team. The program proposes using AI to collect data during the whiskey aging process to optimize flavor development — a project the PPP has labeled “AI in name only.”

This project was categorized as AI-related by the Finance Ministry but not by the implementing Science Ministry, underscoring inconsistencies in classification.

A Woori Bank official introduces an AI-powered kiosk at the Korea Fintech Week 2025 held at a T Center in Seocho District, southern Seoul on Nov. 26. [NEWS1]

The Finance Ministry calculated a total of 10.14 trillion won in AI-related projects, while individual ministries tallied just 7.76 trillion won — a gap of over 2 trillion won.

Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said the discrepancy highlights the absence of unified classification criteria among government agencies.

“This is a representative problem with government-led AI budgets,” he said.

Additional controversy surrounds the “AI Application Product Commercialization Acceleration Support Project” (translated), which spans 10 ministries and totals 892 billion won in the 2026 budget. Lawmakers argue that the budget allocation violated the National Finance Act.

Article 38 of the Act stipulates that even if a project is exempt from preliminary feasibility review, its validity must still be examined and the results must be reflected in the budget.

According to the Korea Development Institute’s Public and Private Infrastructure Investment Management Center, which handles these reviews, the validity assessment for the project was only submitted on Aug. 22 and the investigation began on Sept. 24 — after the budget had already been allocated.

“According to our analysis, this constitutes a legal violation,” said Rep. Cho Jung-hun of the PPP at a National Assembly subcommittee meeting on Nov. 17.

The rooftop garden of the government complex in Sejong is seen on May 5, 2019. [NEWS1]

Critics also argue that attaching trendy labels to secure funding is nothing new.

“Under the Park Geun-hye administration, everything was ‘creative.’ Under Moon Jae-in, it was all ‘New Deal,’” said Yang Jun-sok, a professor of economics at The Catholic University of Korea. “Now, under Lee, it’s all ‘AI.’”

Yang likened the current situation to a 5.46 billion won landscaping project under the Moon administration’s Green New Deal, which installed a microdust-blocking forest on the rooftop of a government building.

Still, Kim Myuhng-joo, a professor of information security at Seoul Women’s University, offered a counterpoint.

“Even if these projects don’t involve infrastructure development,” he said. “If they use AI to improve people’s lives, they can still be classified as AI projects. This is what we call ‘AI for all.’”

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.
BY YANG SU-MIN,JO SU-BIN [[email protected]]