Interior ministry uses youth interns to showcase aid policies on Government 24

The interior ministry said Monday that its youth interns have begun directing young Koreans to government support programmes for housing, finance and employment through the Government 24 portal, as it seeks to spare them from searching individual ministry websites.

Policy support for young adults is already spread across housing, finance, employment and education, but applicants previously had to visit and search the sites of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the labor ministry and other agencies one by one. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Government 24 now gathers programmes from all agencies in one place.

"It was convenient to be able to search youth policies offered by all agencies on Government 24," the interns said. "It is useful to be able to look up the name and details of the support I need and even check how to apply."

For those preparing to live independently, the Youth Housing Dream subscription account is open to homeless people aged 19 to 34 with annual income of 50 million won ($37,756) or less, a ceiling that will later rise to 70 million won ($52,858). Applications are accepted through the mobile apps of Woori, KB Kookmin, Shinhan, NongHyup, Industrial Bank of Korea, Hana, Busan, Gyeongnam and iM banks. Cheaper rental options include Happy Housing, open to people aged 19 to 39, newlyweds and university students who meet income and asset criteria, through recruitment notices from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation and the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation, and long-term jeonse housing, which offers deposits below market rates to households without property.

On the financial side, the Youth Future Savings account lets people aged 19 to 34 deposit up to 500,000 won ($378) a month and receive a government contribution of 6 percent or 12 percent of their payments depending on income and account type, with interest income exempt from tax. Applications are made through the apps of NongHyup, KB Kookmin, Shinhan and other major banks. The Microfinance Youth Future Loan targets people aged 19 to 34 who are in the near-poor bracket or below, in the bottom 20 percent of personal credit scores, or eligible for the earned income tax credit. Qualifying borrowers can receive up to 5 million won ($3,776) unsecured and without a guarantor at an annual rate of 4.5 percent or less, after booking a visit to a Microfinance branch through the Itda app.

For job preparation, the Youth Growth Project offers one-on-one counseling, youth-friendly spaces and regional programmes to people aged 15 to 34 through the Employment 24 website. The Youth Challenge Support Project provides intensive counseling, career exploration and job-competency programmes, along with participation allowances and incentives, to young people who have given up job hunting, are preparing for independent living or fall under regional categories, while the Youth Work Experience programme offers internships, hands-on projects and corporate ESG-backed placements to unemployed people aged 15 to 34.

"Government 24 gathers the various government support policies offered by each agency so they can be found quickly," said Hwang Kyu-chul, head of the ministry's artificial intelligence government office. "We will use AI technology to guide people to government support policies more accurately and easily, from the public's point of view."