Full Cut of Oh Sehoon’s 5.6 Billion Won Youth AI Supplementary Budget Criticized: "Will Lead to an Opportunity Gap"

Budget Fully Cut by Democratic Party During Seoul City Council Review
People Power Party Member Kwangmin Ko Expresses Regret, Calls for Restoration
"Lee Administration Expanding Youth Policy Investment by 53.5%"

The People Power Party has criticized the complete cut of an additional 5.6 billion won supplementary budget for strengthening AI capabilities among young people in Seoul, which was driven by the Democratic Party during the Seoul Metropolitan Council’s deliberations, saying, “This does not align with the central government’s expansion of youth policy initiatives.”

Kwangmin Ko, Chair of the Urban Planning and Balance Committee, member of the People Power Party at the Seoul Metropolitan Council.

On September 4, Kwangmin Ko, Chair of the Urban Planning and Balance Committee and member of the People Power Party at the Seoul Metropolitan Council, expressed regret over the full cut of the 5.625 billion won supplementary budget for Seoul’s “Youth AI Ladder Support” the previous day, and called for the swift reinstatement of the funding.

Youth AI Ladder Support is a project aimed at narrowing the digital divide by providing 500,000 young people living in Seoul with access to generative AI accounts and AI competency enhancement programs. The initiative plans to provide an equitable starting line so that young people can utilize AI regardless of their economic backgrounds. [Related Article=Seoul City’s 2.8 trillion won supplementary budget...housing stabilization and provision of youth AI access]

However, during the committee review held on September 3, the entire budget was eliminated due to a unanimous vote against it by Democratic Party council members. It is reported that members of the Democratic Party raised concerns about the specifics and effectiveness of the program.

In contrast, all council members from the People Power Party, including Chair Ko, asserted that budget allocation is necessary for strengthening young people’s competitiveness in AI and providing fair opportunities.

Chair Ko stated, “If there are areas that need improvement during the implementation process, the Seoul City government can be required to address them, and the council can carefully supervise and oversee the project. However, denying even the opportunity for 500,000 young people in Seoul to utilize AI is an excessive decision.”

Ko especially emphasized that this decision does not align with the recent direction of youth policy set by the central government.

Recently, the Lee Jae-myung administration announced plans to increase the scale of investment in youth policy to 43.3 trillion won next year, a 53.5% increase from this year’s 28.2 trillion won, as part of a “comprehensive investment by growth stage.” The core direction of youth policy is focused on “restoring the growth mobility ladder” in areas of jobs and startups, and “narrowing the starting line gap” in education, housing, and assets.

Chair Ko pointed out, “While the government is expanding youth policy investment to 43.3 trillion won to restore the growth ladder and narrow the starting line gaps for young people, in contrast, Seoul is cutting the entire budget intended to prevent young people from falling behind in the AI era.”

He further criticized, "If AI experience and competency among young people continue to diverge depending on their economic conditions, this will inevitably result in a gap in opportunities. While the government is increasing its policy investment for the future of young people by more than 50%, is the complete elimination of Seoul City’s AI utilization budget by the council really a policy for youth?”

He added that during the Special Budget and Accounts Committee and the plenary session scheduled from September 8 to 11, he will review the project’s necessity and purpose and strive to restore the cut budget.

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