"Young People Will Build Daejeon's Future Themselves"... Daejeon City Seeks 100 Youth Council Members

[Financial News, Daejeon = Reporter Kim Won-jun] Daejeon Metropolitan City is publicly recruiting 100 youth council members for the First Daejeon Youth Council, through which young people will lead policymaking and budgeting, as part of efforts to realize the core vision of its ninth popularly elected administration, "Daejeon, a Special City for Youth."
 Daejeon Metropolitan City announced that it will accept applications for youth council members through the Daejeon Youth Portal for three weeks, from September 21 to October 11. With young people accounting for 28.6% of its total population and an average age of 44.8, Daejeon is one of the youngest cities in the country. Through the Youth Council, the city plans to establish a bottom-up communication channel that actively incorporates young people's views from the field into municipal administration.
 Applicants must be between 18 and 39 years old and have Daejeon as their base of daily life, specifically those born between September 22, 1986, and September 21, 2008. The selected youth council members will be assigned, 25 each, to four life-stage committees covering career exploration, entry into society, career development, and family formation. They will lead policy development, review of the Youth Participatory Budget, and evaluations of policy outcomes.
 In particular, Daejeon Metropolitan City will introduce a stratified random lottery system that takes into account the youth population ratio and gender in each district to ensure representation and fairness. It also plans to give priority to selecting two people per committee from socially vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities and young people preparing for independent living, so that the council reflects voices from diverse backgrounds. The final selections will be announced on the 22nd after verification of supporting documents.
 To strengthen the capabilities of the youth council members, Daejeon Metropolitan City will provide customized policy schools, study tours to benchmark regions, and attendance allowances for meetings. Following a launch ceremony in the fourth week of October, the Daejeon Youth Council will begin full-scale activities in November.
 Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong said, "Young people's fresh ideas will serve as a compass for designing Daejeon's future," adding, "We will provide full support so that their vivid voices bear fruit in tangible budgets and policies."
 Meanwhile, more local governments have recently begun introducing substantive decision-making structures directly linked to youth participatory budgeting to overcome the limitations of existing youth participation bodies, which had been largely limited to advisory roles or gathering opinions. The Daejeon Youth Council is also being recognized as a model case that maximizes the effectiveness of youth participation in politics by granting young people themselves the authority not only to make proposals but also to develop actual projects and allocate budgets.

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