The National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea (NEC) provided about 10.8 billion won (approx. $9.5 million USD) of national current subsidies for the first quarter of 2019 to six political parties.

Details of Subsidy Payments for the First Quarter of 2019

Unit: Korean Won (USD)

* US dollar amounts in brackets are approximate. 

According to Article 27 of the Political Fund Act, the system for distributing national current subsidies begins with 50% of the total amount of subsidies available equally divided between political parties that have a negotiation body in the National Assembly comprised of 20 party members at the time of the payment of subsidies. Next, parties with between five and 20 seats receive 5% of the total funds divided between them. 

In addition, 2% of the total shall be allocated to parties that have no seats or less than five seats but meet certain requirements, such as the number of votes in the most recent public official election.

After distributing based on the aforementioned criteria, half of the remaining subsidies are distributed to political parties represented in the National Assembly according to the number of seats each party has. The other half is distributed based on the number of votes obtained by political parties in the 20th National Assembly election. 

The total amount of subsidies available is calculated by multiplying the total number of registered voters in the most recent National Assembly election held due to the termination of office by the subsidy unit price. This is then divided equally into quarters to be paid during the year and distributed on the 15th day of February, May, August and November (if those days are either Saturdays or public holidays, then they will be paid the day before).

The unit price of national subsidies for this year is 1,031 won ($0.92 USD). This was calculated by applying the 2017 inflation rate of the National Consumer Price Index (1.9%), calculated and announced by the Commissioner of Statistics Korea, to the 2018 national subsidy unit price (1,011 won).