Gwangju Seo-gu Council: "Yoon, Withdraw Budget Cuts for Youth"

The Seo-gu Council of Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 20th that during the 2nd plenary session of the 314th extraordinary meeting, it adopted the "Resolution Urging the Immediate Withdrawal of the Budget Cut Decision That Suppresses the Dreams of Youth," which was proposed by Councilor Im Seong-hwa.

Councilor Im strongly criticized the current government, stating, "One-sixth of the population are youth, yet the budget allocated per youth for one year is only 468 won. Cutting even this amount is evidence of not recognizing youth as members of a democratic society."

Furthermore, Councilor Im referred to Article 34 of the Constitution, Article 47 of the Youth Basic Act, and Article 5 of the Youth Activity Promotion Act, emphasizing the responsibilities of the state and local governments, and stated that youth should receive sufficient opportunities and support to realize their dreams and hopes.

Additionally, although President Yoon Seok-yeol pledged at the Saemangeum World Jamboree that "we will support youth to grow into great leaders with dreams and challenges," and Minister Kim Hyun-sook promised to "significantly increase youth activities," these promises have disappeared, and the youth policy is regressing, he criticized.

All Seo-gu council members strongly demanded ▲ recognizing youth as equal members of a democratic society ▲ withdrawing the 2024 youth budget cut decision that suppresses youth dreams ▲ and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to allocate budgets and implement youth policies in accordance with the purposes of the Youth Basic Act and the Youth Activity Promotion Act.

They also stated, "The 2024 budget proposal completely cut 3.825 billion won for youth activity support, 12.8 billion won for youth international education, 2.6 billion won for youth policy participation support, and 500 million won for sex and human rights education," adding, "Out of the total national budget of 656 trillion won, the youth activity support budget (3.5 billion won) accounts for only about 0.0057%, yet the current government's perception of youth policy, which cuts even this, is serious," urging the immediate withdrawal of the budget cut decision that suppresses youth dreams.

Shin Dong-ho, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy bless4ya@asiae.co.kr

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