Why Did Seongnam-si 'Oppose' Gyeonggi-do Youth Policy?

Following last year's abolition of the 'Youth Basic Income',
also opting out of 'Youth Language and Certification Acquisition Support'

Seongnam City Hall

Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province, ranked first nationwide in 'financial independence,' has deepened its conflict with Gyeonggi Province by being the only one among the 31 cities and counties in the province to abolish the 'Youth Basic Income' last July and deciding not to participate in the province's matching project for 'Youth Language and Certification Acquisition Support.'

According to Gyeonggi Province and Seongnam City on the 9th, Seongnam City abolished the ordinance for youth basic income payment last July. Seongnam City is the only one among the 31 cities and counties in the province to abolish the related ordinance. Accordingly, from this year, Seongnam City is not paying youth basic income to young people, which is conducted in a matching form with support from Gyeonggi Province. The youth basic income project provides 240,000 KRW quarterly, totaling 1,000,000 KRW annually, via a card to 24-year-old youths. Card recipients can register the card through a customer center or mobile app and use it freely like a check card at traditional markets or small business establishments within their residential area.

Seongnam City is also not participating in the province's matching project that supports unemployed youths with up to 300,000 KRW for language and certification exam fees and course fees.

This project supports unemployed youths with up to 300,000 KRW per person for both exam fees and course fees without restrictions on support eligibility, number of exam attempts, course attendance, or application frequency. Gyeonggi Province decided to support a total of 4.4 billion KRW for this project, which started this month as a city-county matching project. The estimated number of unemployed youth beneficiaries in the province is about 24,300. However, Seongnam City is not participating in this project and has been supporting course fees and other expenses for youths in the Seongnam area through its own budget since last year.

As Seongnam City has consecutively decided not to participate in Gyeonggi Province's matching projects, interest is focused on the background. Some view that it is not due to financial problems in Seongnam City but rather because of the 'awkward relationship' between Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin of the People Power Party and the Gyeonggi Province Governor of the Democratic Party.

Currently, Seongnam City's financial situation is excellent. According to the '2024 City/County/District Financial Independence (based on the original budget)' released by the Local Finance 365, a local finance integrated disclosure system, Seongnam City's financial independence rate is 57.2%, ranking first among basic local governments nationwide. Among all cities, counties, and districts nationwide including metropolitan local governments, it ranks third after Seoul Metropolitan Government Headquarters (76.4%) and Sejong Special Self-Governing City Headquarters (57.6%). This figure is 13.9 percentage points higher than the national average financial independence rate of 43.3% for cities, counties, and districts. Among the 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province, it leads second-ranked Hwaseong City’s financial independence rate (50.2%) by 7 percentage points.

A Gyeonggi Province official said, "Youth basic income and youth language and certification acquisition projects are initiatives to provide more opportunities to young people who will lead the future of South Korea," adding, "All 30 cities and counties except Seongnam City are actively participating in the projects."

[Rebuttal Report] Regarding <Seongnam City Youth Support Policy>

In our report on May 9th, page 23, titled ‘Seongnam City Eliminates Youth Support Instead,’ we reported that "Seongnam City decided not to participate in the province’s matching project that supports unemployed youths with up to 300,000 KRW for language and certification exam fees and course fees." In response, Seongnam City clarified that it is not eliminating youth support but rather providing more support to unemployed youths compared to the Gyeonggi Province’s ‘Gyeonggi Youth Capacity Building Opportunity Support Project.’ While the provincial project supports up to 300,000 KRW per person, Seongnam City provides more than three times that amount. Since June 2023, through the ‘Unemployed Youth Support Project ALL-Pass,’ Seongnam City has been supporting unemployed youths with up to 1,000,000 KRW (2,000,000 KRW for low-income youths) for language and certification exam fees and course fees. Additionally, the city is implementing various policies that can provide practical help to youths, including housing safety packages, startup funding support, startup education, and consulting. This report is pursuant to the mediation by the Press Arbitration Commission.