Youth-Community Win-Win 'Youth Village' Established in 12 Locations Including Yeongdeok, Gyeongbuk

144 Youth Organizations Apply, 12 Teams Finally Selected... 500 Million KRW Project Support for Each Village

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Youth villages where young people find new opportunities and settle in local areas will be established in 12 locations nationwide.

On the 18th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the results of the '2021 Youth Village Creation Support Project' contest, selecting 12 locations including Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongbuk Province. The youth village creation project supports young people seeking new opportunities in local areas by providing startup spaces and housing utilizing local resources. It began in 2018 and is currently operating in a total of three locations.

This contest attracted applications from 144 youth organizations nationwide. After selecting 34 teams through the first round of document screening, 12 teams were finally chosen through on-site inspections and presentation evaluations. Ganghwa-gun and Geoje-si were selected as youth villages after three attempts.

The youth villages selected this year will each receive 500 million KRW in project funds to directly remodel idle local spaces into residential, startup, and community spaces.

Ulju-gun will offer opportunities to learn manufacturing methods from fermentation food artisans for startups; Cheongyang-gun will provide experience in producing and selling local products using regional specialties; and Goesan-gun will offer practical farming methods for young entrepreneurial farmers, helping youth settle while coexisting with the local community. Gongju-si, Gangneung-si, and Sangju-si will have local youth who settled earlier closely pass on various startup and job creation experiences to new challengers, seeking jobs together.

Local governments facing population extinction crises are also providing full support such as spaces and budgets to help youth settle in the region. Yeongdeok-gun, famous for the Blue Road (trekking), will provide free housing and startup spaces linked to the modern historical and cultural space project, while Geoje-si will focus on supporting key spaces needed for marine leisure activities in connection with rural development projects. Sinan-gun plans to pay 500,000 KRW monthly activity fees to young artists living in island villages using a renewable energy development profit-sharing system.

Local residents also form 'resident councils' to support youth settlement. The resident council of the urban guesthouse village in Dong-gu, Busan, provides the guesthouse and sarangbang (community room) of Ibagu Village, while Wanju-gun's 'Bibil Eondeok Brokerage Office' and Ganghwa-gun's 'Neighborhood Guide' provide information and counseling necessary for youth settlement.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to hold a joint launching ceremony in May with the 12 newly selected villages and the three existing youth villages (Mokpo, Jeonnam; Seocheon, Chungnam; Mungyeong, Gyeongbuk) all participating.

Additionally, the ministry will continuously monitor the youth village creation process to support the stable settlement of young people. Minister Jeon Hae-cheol said, “We must provide various opportunities so that young people can dream of the future and plan their lives in local areas,” and added, “We will actively support and cooperate with local governments so that the youth village project can become a good model of coexistence between youth and local communities.”