Seoul City Awarded 'Korea Policy Award'... Selected as Best Local Government

Leading the Comprehensive 'Youth Happiness Project' Covering All Youth Policies

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul City announced on the 19th that it has been recognized for its pioneering and highly tangible youth policy efforts by receiving the ‘11th Korea Policy Award for Local Governments’ from the Korean Policy Association.

The Korea Policy Award is given by the Korean Policy Association to local governments that have implemented outstanding policies. It has been awarded since 2010,

serving as an opportunity to share and disseminate excellent policy cases implemented by local governments not only to the association, experts, and public institutions but also to the general public.

The award-winning policy of Seoul City is the ‘Youth Happiness Project for a Happy Seoul Youth.’ Since the inauguration of Mayor Oh Se-hoon last year, Seoul has made multifaceted efforts to create ‘Youth Seoul.’ As a policy vision for this, in March of this year, Seoul announced the mid- to long-term comprehensive plan for youth policy, the ‘Youth Happiness Project.’ The Korean Policy Association highly evaluated Seoul’s passion and contributions toward youth through this initiative.

Through the ‘Youth Happiness Project,’ which organically integrates and links all youth policies of Seoul City to set a direction, Seoul has established a systematic policy environment to support the lives of young people. Over five years, Seoul plans to invest 6.3 trillion KRW in 50 youth policies, expanding and developing existing policies while newly discovering customized projects to eliminate policy blind spots, achieving both quantitative and qualitative development of youth policies.

Additionally, emphasizing youth participation in policy, Seoul laid the foundation for realizing Youth Seoul by ▲ strengthening participation organizations within Seoul City ▲ significantly expanding the Youth-Friendly Committee to increase participation in city administration ▲ creating new participation channels to reflect diverse opinions (Youth Policy Contest), among other efforts.

Kim Cheol-hee, Head of Seoul City’s Future Youth Planning Group, stated, "In line with the city administration’s principle of walking with the vulnerable, Seoul will continuously discover and develop policies for the happiness of young people."