'Youth Leap Account' Faces Budget Cut Threat Without Support

Low Subscriber Target Achievement and Budget Execution Rates
Park Sumin: "It's for Youth Asset Formation... It's Regrettable"
Jung Ilyoung: "Financial Services Commission Lacked Supervision and Disciplinary Measures"

The 'Youth Leap Account,' a policy product aimed at asset formation for young people, is at risk of having its 2025 budget drastically cut. This is because the budget execution rate over 15 months fell below 40%, and the initial subscriber target of 3.06 million was not achieved. The Youth Leap Account is one of the representative youth financial policies introduced by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration in June last year.

On the 22nd, the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts' Budget Adjustment Subcommittee (Budget Subcommittee) conducted a reduction review of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The Budget Subcommittee makes the final review of the budget based on the preliminary review results from the relevant standing committees. The National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, which oversees the FSC, proposed a '26 billion KRW reduction' in the budget related to the Youth Leap Account. Earlier, the FSC had set the next year's budget at approximately 448.7 billion KRW, but due to the Ministry of Economy and Finance's request, the related budget was cut to 375 billion KRW.

The National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts has officially begun reviewing increases and decreases in the budget bill based on the preliminary examination results from each standing committee. Chairman Park Jeong is presiding over the Budget and Accounts Subcommittee on the 18th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

The FSC has executed 257.069 billion KRW, which is 39.9% of the allocated budget of 644.373 billion KRW as of the end of September. The predicted number of subscribers at the time of budget formulation was 3.06 million, but the FSC stated that only 1.06 million subscriptions are expected by the end of this year. The Budget Subcommittee argued for a '170.8 billion KRW reduction,' considering mid-term cancellations and other factors. In response, Kim So-young, Vice Chairman of the FSC, requested acceptance of the Political Affairs Committee's reduction proposal, and the Budget Subcommittee decided to postpone the decision for the time being.

Members of the Budget Subcommittee from both ruling and opposition parties criticized the unexecuted budget and the product design. Park Soo-min, a member of the People Power Party, said, "This is a product that helps young people build assets, so it is extremely regrettable that the budget was not executed," and added, "Please ensure that promotion and encouragement are carried out without any setbacks so that people can subscribe." Jang Cheol-min of the Democratic Party pointed out, "For someone earning 24 million KRW annually, putting in 400,000 KRW per month or more than 5 million KRW a year is not easy," and criticized, "Expecting people to subscribe to the Youth Leap Account just because interest rates will be lower next year is mistaken."

Gu Ja-geun, the ruling party's secretary of the Budget Subcommittee from the People Power Party, also emphasized, "Shouldn't we be asking for an increase instead?" and said, "We need to explore various other methods." Jeong Il-young of the Democratic Party criticized, "For the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency to perform properly, the FSC must supervise and take disciplinary actions where necessary," and added, "They just left it to them and did not do their job properly." The Youth Leap Account is a product led by the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, funded by the FSC.