Kim Woong "We Need to Consider Providing 500,000 Won Basic Income to Youths in Their 20s"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Kim Woong, a member of the National Assembly who challenged the People Power Party leadership election, proposed a ‘Youth Basic Income’ that provides 500,000 won each to young people in their 20s.

On the 20th, Kim stated through social media (SNS), "If we cannot create jobs for young people, we must at least guarantee them a regular income," and argued, "We need to seriously consider the ‘Youth Basic Income.’"

Kim Woong, member of the People Power Party./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

He estimated that with about 6.76 million young people aged 20 to 29, providing 500,000 won monthly as youth basic income would require an annual budget of approximately 40 trillion won. For funding, he suggested utilizing the current low birthrate budget and other resources.

Kim pointed out, "Over the past 15 years, 225 trillion won has been poured into the low birthrate budget, but the fertility rate dropped from 1.07 to 0.84. When examining the actual low birthrate budget items, more than 50% are unrelated to infertility support, such as temple stays and strengthening humanities education."

He added, "It would be more helpful for improving the fertility rate to use this budget for youth basic income. Looking back, the baby boom generation did not emerge because there was sufficient low birthrate budget. It is the expectation that tomorrow will be better than today that leads to childbirth," he argued.

Kim stated, "Promises to create decent jobs for young people are likely to become empty words. Therefore, it is now necessary to seriously consider youth basic income."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.