From Private Youth Foundation to Public Youth Policy Promotion Institute... Democratic Party's Kim Dong-a Proposes Youth Basic Act Amendment

Unification of the Youth Policy Delivery System

A bill to unify the youth policy support system as a national institution has been proposed.

On July 22, Dong-A Kim, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced that he had sponsored a revision to the "Framework Act on Youth," which aims to unify the delivery system for youth policy and legally guarantee related budget support.

Dong-A Kim, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The main point of the bill is to convert the Youth Foundation, currently a private organization, into the "Youth Policy Promotion Agency," a state-established institution. Until now, the youth policy support system was divided between the private Youth Foundation and the public Korea Employment Information Service. The new plan aims to consolidate these functions into a single national institution to greatly strengthen the professionalism and public nature of youth policy.

In addition, the bill stipulates a legal obligation for the Minister of Strategy and Finance to respect the Basic Plan for Youth Policy established by the Prime Minister when setting the budget. This measure is intended to prevent youth-related budgets from being cut during the budgeting process due to reprioritization.

Kim stated, "In order for youth policy to be more than empty promises, there must be a dedicated, consumer-oriented institution backed by a robust budget," adding, "If the bill passes, the planning, budgeting, and execution of youth policy will be carried out with consistency and strength."

Meanwhile, Kim, who previously served as chair of the Youth Future Joint Conference, has also sponsored a revision to the "Restriction of Special Taxation Act" to allow individuals to subscribe to both the Youth Individual Savings Account (ISA) and the Youth Future Savings Program simultaneously.

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