Can Yoon Seok-yeol's 'Youth Companionship' Continue in the Next Administration?

Appointment of 19 Practical Committee Members Including Youth Advisors
Emphasis on Solving Youth Employment and Other Issues

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Yoon Seok-yeol, the president-elect who has emphasized youth political participation since his candidacy, has appointed youth working-level members to the Presidential Transition Committee. Attention is focused on whether young people can be utilized in actual state affairs rather than being used temporarily for elections.

Kim Eun-hye, spokesperson for the president-elect, announced on the 18th through a notice, "We have promised that youth will be not only simple policy beneficiaries but also partners in state affairs and policy planners," and revealed 19 young people appointed as working-level members.

Spokesperson Kim said, "The youth working-level members are mainly composed of young aides selected through an open recruitment process, and including the youth TF under the Planning Committee, the number of young people participating in the transition committee is expected to reach about 30."

During his candidacy, President-elect Yoon pledged, "If I become president, I will run the government together with future generations," and has worked hard to court youth, such as appointing youth aides to the election campaign headquarters. In fact, ideas from youth aides were directly reported to the candidate and reflected in Facebook messages and 'Heart-throbbing pledges.'

However, it has been pointed out as a problem that among the 24 members of the transition committee formed on the 17th, the composition did not reflect diversity from various sectors such as youth and women. They are representatives of the established generation and vested interests, such as men in their 50s and 60s, Seoul National University alumni, and figures from the MB administration. Although youth aides were later appointed as working-level members, it is highly likely that decision-making authority regarding actual strategy formation and task allocation lies with the transition committee members.

Accordingly, attention is focused on how much the president-elect Yoon can reflect the voices of the youth in the process of forming the next government. Spokesperson Kim stated, "In the future, youth aides and others are expected to participate in the transition committee in various ways."

Furthermore, since he emphasized the importance of solving youth employment and other issues and declared them as the top national agenda for the next government, how much attention he pays to youth issues is also crucial. Currently, no separate division within the transition committee is designated to handle youth issues, and related policies will be broadly managed across all divisions, including the Social Welfare and Culture division. A transition committee official explained, "Youth issues are policies prepared by all divisions for future generations, so they will be handled by all divisions," adding, "Youth issues are a common theme and are not organized into a special division for exclusive management."

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