Seoul’s unification ministry will increase spending on inter-Korean cooperation by over 25% in the next fiscal year, while almost completely gutting its budget for promoting North Korean human rights.

Around 1.2 trillion won ($683 million) will be budgeted for the ministry in 2026, a 20.9% increase from the previous year, according to a budget document released Tuesday. The budget proposal was approved during the National Assembly’s plenary session on Tuesday.

Nearly all of those funds, 1 trillion won ($681 million), will go toward its inter-Korean cooperation fund, in a move signalling the Lee administration’s intention to improve relations with North