SUWON — Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae said on the 23rd that the central government must expand fire service funding to improve the treatment and safety of firefighters.
Writing on her Facebook page, Choo said the safety and working conditions of firefighters should be the top priority, adding that fire service financing must be restructured in line with the purpose of transferring firefighters to national civil service status.
She said the core aim of that transition was to resolve a system in which firefighters' working conditions and public safety varied according to local fiscal capacity. But while their status changed to national civil servants, the financial burden has remained with local governments, she said.
Choo said officials from the firefighters' union recently visited Gyeonggi Province to raise concerns about staffing shortages in the field. "The reality is that limited funding makes it difficult to secure even enough personnel to operate equipment," she said, adding that it was regrettable the province had no further capacity despite making safety its top priority.
She also stressed that demand for fire services in Gyeonggi Province is the highest in the country. Choo said the province had about 79,000 registered factories in 2025, accounting for 43.6% of the national total. From 2019 to 2023, there were 4,336 factory fires in the province, or an average of about 867 a year, she said.
She said the tax structure for industrial sites does not match the burden of fire service financing. Corporate taxes paid by factories go to the central government and property taxes to cities and counties, she said, while Gyeonggi Province, as a metropolitan-level government, bears responsibility for fire services.
Choo said that of the 1.1973 trillion won (about $832 million) in firefighter salaries in Gyeonggi Province this year, state support amounted to 92.1 billion won, or 7.7%. The remaining 1.1052 trillion won, or 92.3%, is covered by the province, she said.
"Fire service demand is concentrated in Gyeonggi Province, but the provincial funding to handle it is woefully insufficient," she said.
She also pointed to the structure of state funding as a problem. Choo said part of fire service financing is linked to the individual consumption tax on cigarettes. "While smoking cessation is encouraged, fire service funding actually depends on cigarette sales," she said, adding that the reality of fire service financing is that funding meant to protect people's lives and safety is determined by cigarette sales volumes.
Choo said Gyeonggi Province would fulfill its responsibility to look after the safety and working conditions of firefighters. But she stressed that the structure placing that responsibility solely on local governments must also be examined.
"Local governments must prioritize firefighters' working conditions with limited funds while also securing welfare funding for residents, including school meal costs, pay improvements for daycare teachers and postpartum care support," she said. "All of these are essential, and I do not want to shortchange any of them."
Choo said the firefighters' union had also called for securing funding at the national level. "I urge the government, the National Assembly and the party policy committee to respond together to those urgent voices," she said.
Choo concluded that the salaries of national civil service firefighters should move toward being fully covered by the central government.