Lawmaker flags lopsided AI budget structure

At the National Assembly audit, lawmaker Bae Kyunghoon pointed to the disparity between the roughly 6 trillion won allocated for AI performance-oriented programs and the 27.4 billion won directed to AI safety. He argued that the gap should be improved to better balance the two areas.

The figures were presented during the audit of government AI policy spending. According to the audit record, the scale of investment in performance-oriented AI development far outstrips the resources devoted to safety, oversight and related safeguards.

Bae said the imbalance warrants improvement, positioning AI safety as an area that has lagged behind the government's push for performance and capability gains.

Safety funding a fraction of development spending

The 27.4 billion won safety budget amounts to a small fraction of the 6 trillion won performance budget, underscoring how heavily the government's AI investment leans toward capability building.

The claim rests on the National Assembly audit transcript, in which the budget figures and the remarks on the imbalance appear. An upward revision of the assessment to fully factual would be possible if the original wording of Bae's remarks — including his use of the term "imbalance" — is confirmed against the audit record.

The overall assessment on the budget comparison and the lawmaker's remarks is that it is Mostly True.