* This is a partial quote from The Fact article.
https://v.daum.net/v/20260223000139119
https://news.tf.co.kr/read/ptoday/2294845.htm
… On the 22nd, according to '2026 Legislative and Policy Development Budget Execution Guidelines' obtained by , a new item of 'Generative AI Service Usage Fee' has been introduced in the general expenditure items from this year. This breaks away from the practice where lawmakers' offices subscribed to AI services with individual political funds or personal expenses of aides, enabling conditional support through official budget items. The target users are all employees belonging to lawmakers' offices, including National Assembly members.
The National Assembly Secretariat allocates and executes legislative and policy development funds every year to support legislative activities such as seminars, public hearings, opinion polls, and research services hosted by National Assembly members. The budget allocated for 2026 is a total of 7.63 billion won, with 4.645 billion won allocated as general expenditure. The average allocation per lawmaker's office is approximately 25.43 million won, and there appears to be no separate limit on AI service usage fees.
However, not all generative AI services can be subscribed to. If the use of generative AI services is unrelated to legislative and policy development activities, budget execution is impossible. In particular, access will be blocked for services that are deemed to pose a threat to National Assembly cybersecurity or have security vulnerabilities, such as the Chinese AI service 'DeepSeek,' which has raised concerns about security vulnerabilities. Input will also be restricted for confidential work data, national vital interests, and sensitive information related to investigations and trials.
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