South Korea’s finance ministry on Friday announced an $8.6 billion (12.2 trillion won) supplementary budget to accelerate wildfire recovery, bolster national AI capacity and shield exporters from rising trade protectionism. Approved during a Cabinet meeting the same day, the package includes $2.3 billion (3.2 trillion won) for disaster response, $3.1 billion (4.4 trillion won) for AI and trade support and $3 billion (4.3 trillion won) for economic relief. The budget will be submitted to the National Assembly on April 22 for review.

The government said the spending will be funded by $2.9 billion (4.1 trillion won) in surpluses and reserve