A Big Step for Youth! ... Busan City Announces the '2nd Basic Plan for Youth Policy'

On the 8th at 4 PM, City Hall to Host '2024 Busan Youth Policy Coordination Committee'

Mayor Park Hyung-jun and Over 30 Youth Policy Coordinators Attend... 'Opportunity, Stability, Vitality'

Mayor Park: "We Will Not Stop Taking Big Steps for

Busan City announced the ‘2nd Basic Plan for Youth Policy (2024?2028)’ with the keywords ‘Opportunity, Stability, Vitality’ to help young people stay in Busan and achieve their dreams.

'2024 Busan Youth Policy Coordination Committee'.

On the afternoon of the 8th, the city held the ‘2024 Busan Youth Policy Coordination Committee’ meeting at the city hall’s main conference room, chaired by Mayor Park Hyung-jun, to review the ‘2nd Basic Plan for Youth Policy’ to be implemented over the next five years (2024?2028) and announced its full-scale promotion.

The ‘Youth Policy Coordination Committee’ is a participatory governance body that deliberates on major matters related to Busan’s youth policy, enabling youth-led policy decisions.

The current ‘3rd Youth Policy Coordination Committee,’ composed of youth and experts, was launched in 2022. From this year, it has been expanded by adding 10 youth members to gather opinions from various youth generations.

The city analyzed that conditions for youth policy are entering a turning point, citing the recent increase in youth age range and ranking first in life satisfaction surveys. Therefore, it is concluding the 1st Basic Plan for Youth Policy initiated in 2019 and starting to implement the ‘2nd Basic Plan for Youth Policy’ decided at this meeting.

The ‘2nd Basic Plan for Youth Policy’ adopts the slogan ‘A Young and Hopeful Vibrant City’ and will be implemented across five major areas: ▲Jobs & Startups ▲Housing ▲Education ▲Culture & Welfare ▲Vitality, Participation & Growth. Notably, it introduces a new population concept called ‘Youth Living Population’ and allocates a total budget of 1.9092 trillion KRW for 59 projects over five years.

Until now, the city’s youth policy targeted youth actually residing in Busan, but now it shifts the response paradigm to focus on the living population staying in Busan. The policy is newly planned from a population perspective that expands by utilizing Busan’s potential in nature, culture, and history.

First, in the ‘Jobs & Startups’ sector, which is the most urgent for youth, the plan aims to shorten youth job-seeking periods by resolving mismatches between youth and companies and create a favorable startup environment by supporting each stage of entrepreneurship.

Building on last year’s achievement of attracting 4 trillion KRW in investments, the city aims to expand good jobs with a target of 6 trillion KRW in investments, increase youth employment rate to 50% by 2028 through the second relocation of public institutions, attracting future-oriented companies, and designating a financial special zone.

Additionally, the city plans to discover and promote 100 ‘Youth-Attractive Companies,’ provide consulting, and match them with young talents. Through the ‘Youth Job Total Care System,’ it will build a youth talent database to connect companies and youth, significantly reducing job-seeking periods by operating mutual matching programs between companies and youth to resolve job mismatches.

Moreover, to foster global talent through overseas expansion of youth, the ‘Global Job Challenge Project’ will be promoted. This will create a virtuous cycle where youth who grow as global talents return to the region and grow alongside local companies.

To facilitate youth entrepreneurship, a startup fund of 1.2 trillion KRW will be established, along with providing youth startup spaces in urban areas. Support will cover the entire growth cycle from tech startups to youth-specialized startups. The city will also focus on nurturing ‘Youth Local Creators’ who utilize Busan’s assets such as environment and culture.

Second, in the ‘Housing’ sector, the city will promote youth housing stabilization through systematic support for ‘reducing housing costs ? preventing housing damage ? home ownership.’

Responding to the increase in single-person youth households, a total of 11,100 youth rental housing units (public rental, Hope Plus Housing, Lucky 7 House, etc.) will be supplied by 2028. The ‘Busan-style Youth Cost-Price Housing’ project will provide affordable sale housing at construction cost level, expanding youth-tailored public housing.

Support for reducing youth monthly rent and deposit costs, such as monthly rent support and deposit return guarantee fee support, will continue. Especially, the ‘Lease Deposit Loan Interest Support Project’ will expand beneficiaries by adjusting eligibility to individuals with annual income under 45 million KRW and couples under 80 million KRW combined.

Furthermore, to prevent housing damage such as rental deposit fraud and provide related support, the city will operate the ‘Rental Fraud Damage Support Center,’ offering various real estate legal information to youth. A ‘Youth Housing Counseling Manager’ will be assigned within the center to provide comprehensive housing consultations, creating a safe housing environment for youth.

Third, in the ‘Education’ sector, the city aims to innovate the university education system to provide practical educational opportunities and cultivate well-prepared talents strong in practical skills.

Through the Regional Innovation-centered University Support System (RISE), universities and the region will jointly plan and operate curricula reflecting regional industrial demands, nurturing universities as hubs for talent development and social value expansion. The current single ‘Glocal University’ will be expanded to five universities, fostering top-tier regional universities and providing world-class educational opportunities.

The ‘Waterloo-type Co-op Program,’ a Busan-style on-site job competency enhancement program that fosters practical talents by repeating theory and practice from the third year of university, will expand from 2 universities with 60 students to 15 universities with 450 students by 2028.

Additionally, core talent training in IT and software fields and project-based work experience education will cultivate prepared talents in the digital sector. Scholarships for local talents will encourage regional settlement of students and promote domestic and international talent inflow.

Fourth, in the ‘Culture & Welfare’ sector, the city will expand youth cultural enjoyment opportunities and strengthen support for youth asset formation and independence.

Focusing on youth culture representative contents such as street dance, K-POP, and gaming, the city will create an atmosphere of year-round youth festivals, providing entertainment and enjoyment for youth.

The year-round youth festivals include (Spring) Dance Festival → (Summer) Sea Festival → (Autumn) G-STAR → (Winter) Polar Bear Festival.

The ‘Youth 10,000 Won Culture Pass’ project allows youth to watch performances worth 110,000 KRW by paying only 10,000 KRW, enabling free access to excellent local cultural performances. The ‘Emerging Artist Support Project’ supports creative activities of young artists and nurtures outstanding artists who will lead the region.

Also, to allow youth to use youth spaces without time and location constraints, the city will create spaces preferred by youth, such as cafes, enhancing accessibility and usability.

The youth-exclusive asset formation project ‘Busan Youth Double Joy Account’ will continue this year with about 4,000 participants. The city will also continue ‘Youth Debt Burden Reduction Projects’ including credit recovery and personal rehabilitation support, and ‘Youth Independence Preparation Support Projects.’

Fifth, in the ‘Vitality, Participation & Growth’ sector, the city will strengthen the youth policy delivery system to enhance practical youth participation and effectiveness, and improve the capacity for mutual growth between youth and the region.

For youth experiencing mental difficulties such as future anxiety and relationship stress, the city will promote youth vitality recovery through ‘Youth Mind Filling,’ supporting emotional and physical recovery throughout the youth lifecycle, reintegration and participation in the community, and formation of social networks.

To incorporate youth voices into policies and create policies that youth can feel, the city will expand youth governance. It will significantly expand youth-led committees and establish a ‘Youth Activity Mileage System’ that grants mileage to youth participating in city administration activities, laying the foundation for increased youth interest and participation.

Furthermore, the city will conduct various new projects for mutual growth of youth and the region, such as the youth international exchange event ‘Korea-US-Japan Sister Cities Youth Summit (SUMMIT),’ youth-friendly city contests, and youth mentoring.

Notably, the newly introduced ‘Youth Living Population’ sector will develop and promote content utilizing Busan’s potential to increase living population through nature, tourism, and culture.

Key programs to expand youth living population include ‘Busan Bolla?,’ which shares stay experiences, and ‘Busan Sall?,’ which extends stay time. These policies, reflecting regional strengths, will focus on expanding the living population, aiming to increase youth living population to 100 million by 2028.

Through the ‘Busan Bolla?’ program, attractive places and representative events frequented by youth in Busan will be produced and distributed via vlogs, YouTube Shorts, etc., sharing stay experiences. The ‘Busan Sall?’ program will utilize diverse content such as experiences, shopping, workations, certifications, and learning to extend stay duration and actively attract living population.

Additionally, the city will actively attract foreign students, currently numbering 13,000, aiming for 30,000 by 2028 through regional specialized visa projects and Busan-style international student attraction strategies, thereby expanding the youth living population and laying the foundation for Busan’s leap as a global hub city.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun stated, “The future of Busan depends on its youth, and through this major transformation of youth policy, Busan will leap forward as a ‘young and hopeful vibrant city.’ We will not stop taking big steps for youth so that the young leaders of the future can happily stay in Busan and realize their dreams.”

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