Korea’s Communications Commission (KCC) has secured an increase of 1.4% for its 2021 budget from the country’s National Assembly, upping the agency’s annual purse to KRW247.2 billion/US$226 million from the original government proposal of KRW243.9 billion/US$223 million.

Excluding exceptional costs, such as KRW10.9 billion assigned to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for Arirang TV labour costs, the budget was up KRW7.7 billion/US$7 million (3.2%) on last year, the KCC said.

The organisation secured an additional KRW1.7 billion/US$1.5 million to support the fight against fake news, bringing the total fact-checking war chest to KRW2.74 billion/US$2.5 million.

The KCC says KRW72.3 billion will be allocated towards strengthening the competitives of Korean content creation, including education, community TV and radio, ensuring a safe and secure online environment, including an automatic digital sex-crime monitoring system.