The South Korean government approved a defense budget of 73.2777 trillion won for the next fiscal year, an increase of 8.2% from the current year's 67.704 trillion won. ^[1] Approximately 1 trillion won for the introduction of a nuclear-powered submarine was included in the budget for the first time, up from previously discussed amounts of around 200 billion won. ^[2] President Yoon Suk-yeol and Defense Minister An Kyu-baek discussed the development of a nuclear-powered submarine at the First Future Defense Strategy Committee meeting on May 26. ^[3] The budget allocates 21.3 trillion won for the introduction of core capabilities to transition operational control to the South Korean military within President Yoon's term. ^[4] A budget of 1 trillion won was allocated for the initial design and research phases of the nuclear-powered submarine project. ^[5] This budget increase represents an 8.2% rise, which is the largest increase since 2008 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. ^[6] The allocation for the mass production of the domestic supersonic KF-21 fighter jet increased significantly from 1.4 trillion won to 3.3 trillion won. ^[7]