The Ministry of Justice's budget bill for next year has been drawn up at approximately 5.4 trillion won, an increase of some 700 billion won from this year.

The Ministry of Justice announced the "2027 Budget and Fund Operation Plan (Draft)" containing these details today (the 4th).

Total expenditures for the Ministry of Justice next year will reach 5.4056 trillion won, up 14.9 percent (701 billion won) from 4.7046 trillion won in 2026.

By account, the general account will increase by 15.2 percent (689.6 billion won), the correctional labor special account by 5.5 percent (4.3 billion won), and the crime victim protection fund by 6.9 percent (7 billion won).

The Ministry of Justice plans to focus financial resources on three major areas: a country safe from crime, a society that respects human rights values, and pragmatic legal administration that revitalizes the economy.

First, a budget of 19.519 billion won will be invested in expanding and improving correctional facilities and newly constructing correctional workshops to raise the correctional labor execution rate (the proportion of eligible inmates participating in labor).

A total of 30.89 billion won has been allocated to establish specialized juvenile protection agencies dedicated to probation, community service, lectures, and rehabilitation support for juvenile offenders, and to strengthen youth crime prevention.

A total of 10.8 billion won will be spent on improving guard systems to detect signs of accidents such as suicide or death from illness within correctional facilities in real time.

A total of 9.657 billion won will be invested in expanding one-on-one electronic monitoring and strengthening on-site supervision.

An amount of 1.663 billion won will also be used to build infrastructure and conduct drug tests for the complete cessation of drug use among inmates in correctional facilities.

State compensation for the prompt relief of victims of historical events and other cases will be significantly expanded from the existing 144.8 billion won to 840 billion won.

A budget of 116.7 billion won will be invested in expanding free legal support for personal rehabilitation, bankruptcy, and exemption for debtors in crisis, as well as public relations.

A total of 20.707 billion won has been allocated for the additional deployment of dedicated national defense attorneys for crime victims and crime victim relief funds.

This is an increase of about 20 percent (3.5 billion won) compared to this year.

A budget of 326 million won will go into diagnosing and analyzing risks of international investment disputes in advance through artificial intelligence (AI) international legal risk analysis, and expanding the infrastructure to respond to follow-up and derivative procedures.

A total of 15.055 billion won will also be invested in enhancing the convenience and security of automated immigration clearance through AI big data analysis and providing interactive AI civil petition counseling services.

(Photo provided by Ministry of Justice, Yonhap News)