Defense ministry joins government-wide effort to kickstart economy

By Sam Kim
SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean defense ministry on Tuesday
announced a 600-billion-won (US$430 million) extra budget to help jumpstart the
ailing economy by buying up real estate and hiring more soldiers.
The budget, which would come on top of the ministry's 28-trillion-won (US$20
billion) regular budget approved last year, also reflects losses incurred in
weapons trade due to fluctuations in the currency rate, the Ministry of National
Defense said in a release.
Earlier Tuesday, the government passed a 28.9-trillion-won extra budget, the
largest ever since the Asia-wide financial meltdown in 1998, as the world's
13th-largest economy struggles to ride out the global economic downturn.
The defense ministry said it plans to spend 200 billion won of the supplementary
budget to absorb apartments and other housing facilities around bases and convert
them into barracks.
It will spend 5.8 billion won to raise the number of fully-paid voluntary
soldiers by 1,200 to 5,600. South Korea operates 66,5000 troops, many of them
under mandatory service with nominal pay.
"The projects reflected in the extra budget are expected to lead to the creation
of 7,300 jobs and revenue of 341 billion won for the national economy," the
ministry said in the release.
Other projects include the 198-billion-won plan to recoup the losses from the
weakened South Korean currency against the U.S. dollar, the ministry said.
The regular defense budget accounts for about 7 percent of South Korea's entire
budget for this year, according to the ministry.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)