South Korea's National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a plenary meeting on Monday and passed a first supplementary budget bill for 2026 that includes 4.95 billion won in operating support for Seoul's media foundation TBS. The budget falls under the jurisdiction of the Broadcast and Communications Commission.

All lawmakers from the Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party who attended the meeting voted in favour. Lee Jun-seok (이준석) of the Reform Party voted against. Seven committee members from the People Power Party did not take part in the vote. The committee also tabled the supplementary budget bill on April 6, but it failed to proceed after it did not meet the quorum for passage.

The supplementary budget bill reflects a revision proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Ju-hee (이주희). The 4.95 billion won for TBS is divided into 2.721 billion won to support foreign-language radio broadcasts and 2.229 billion won to support traffic broadcasting. It was reorganised from a focus on production costs to a focus on operating support such as personnel costs, rent and equipment maintenance.

The supplementary budget bill under the Broadcast and Communications Commission also includes 860 million won for basic expenses and 2.267 billion won to set up an ICT Services Transparency Centre.

The supplementary budget bill under the Ministry of Science and ICT includes 15.0 billion won for urgent demonstrations of public safety AI services, 100.0 billion won to support demonstrations of AI semiconductors, including physical AI, 22.9 billion won for a fast-track programme to help export and import SMEs shift to digital and AI, 2.0 billion won for citizen-facing AI vouchers, and 1.0 billion won to help convergence services enter global markets.

Committee chair Choi said, "There has been a lot of talk around the TBS budget, but I hope the National Assembly and the Broadcast and Communications Commission will join forces and do their best."