Why are unpopular sports funded by local government taxes?

Why are local governments operating clubs for unpopular sports while paying salaries of 60 to 70 million KRW with tax money? Their fiscal independence is incredibly low, yet they act as if these sports are intangible cultural assets. If a sport is so unpopular that it requires tax money just to keep it going, it's better to just stop wasting taxes. The funny thing is, they use tax money to run these clubs, yet they grant military exemptions and even provide pensions with tax money; from the perspective of the general public, this is the worst. They are spending a massive amount of tax money, so at the very least, they should abolish the military exemptions.