Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and former Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae pose for a photo with attendees at a workshop for newly elected young Democratic Party members held at Konjinam Resort in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, on June 28. [Yonhap]
Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and former Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae pose for a photo with attendees at a workshop for newly elected young Democratic Party members held at Konjinam Resort in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, on June 28. [Yonhap]

Both major parties are stepping up efforts to win over voters in their 20s and 30s ahead of key political events. The Democratic Party of Korea, with its Aug. 17 party leadership convention approaching, has launched a competition among leadership candidates over youth policy, while the People Power Party has been working to expand its outreach to young voters following the ballot shortage controversy in the June 3 local elections.

Experts say that because young voters prioritize fairness and tangible benefits, political parties must approach them with effective policies and genuine communication rather than slogans.

According to political circles, the question of how to address youth issues has become a central theme within the Democratic Party ahead of the Aug. 17 convention. The debate has intensified after the party's convention preparatory committee's push to introduce a separately elected youth supreme council member position was voted down under the current leadership.

The sense of crisis has deepened after young voters flocked to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in the local elections, and multiple polls conducted after the ballot shortage incident showed a sharp drop in support among voters in their 20s. Many within the party now warn that the next general election could also be at risk if the situation does not change.

Kim Min-seok, a former prime minister running for party leader, said Wednesday that "there is no future for us unless we broaden dialogue with young people, make engagement with them a front-and-center priority, and reinvent ourselves as a youth-friendly party — for the future of South Korea, the success of our government, and the future of our party." He pledged to establish a 10-to-30s policy task force directly under the party leader, regularize youth-government consultations and ministerial meetings on youth affairs, and create a new minister-level youth policy committee.

Song Yeong-gil, another leadership candidate and former party leader, also put forward youth pledges, including a commitment to appoint two members of the 20-to-30s generation as designated supreme council members.

Within the party, however, criticism persists that the Democratic Party's response on youth policy remains inadequate. Bong Geon-u, chairman of the Democratic Party's National University Students Committee, who resigned from the party's election management committee in protest over the failure to introduce an elected youth supreme council member position, said in a phone interview that "the party itself needs to have youth DNA embedded in it so that it has no choice but to listen to the younger generation." He added, "What I mean is that institutional safeguards need to be put in place. I hope the convention becomes a forum where those things are actually discussed."

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok (center, back row) poses for a photo at the launch forum of the Committee on External Affairs' Youth Sovereignty Forum, titled "Asking the 2030 Generation for Solutions to Restore Sovereignty," held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on June 29. [Lee Sang-seop]
People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok (center, back row) poses for a photo at the launch forum of the Committee on External Affairs' Youth Sovereignty Forum, titled "Asking the 2030 Generation for Solutions to Restore Sovereignty," held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on June 29. [Lee Sang-seop]

The People Power Party, emboldened by the Seoul mayoral race result and a rally at Seoul Olympic Park, has been accelerating its push to court young voters.

The Jang Dong-hyeok leadership has been scouting new talent through youth auditions and recruitment drives, while expanding opportunities for young people to experience political participation through legislative aide programs and debate events. Jang himself has been traveling across the country — including to Olympic Park — to meet with university students and other young people over the ballot shortage controversy and build common ground.

Critics within the opposition, however, say street-level campaigning alone has its limits when it comes to winning over young voters. PPP Youth Supreme Council Member Woo Jae-jun said the party "needs to talk policy with young people and transform itself into a party whose form matches the changing times — politically — if it wants to resonate with the next generation." He stressed that "the party's existing internal systems for evaluation, activities and talent development need to be modernized and upgraded."

Woo said that "the fundamental policy of a conservative party is to take responsibility for the future, and in that respect there is a natural alignment with young people as the future generation," adding that "since young people are essentially in a vulnerable position in Korean society right now, it is also right to pay them more attention." At the same time, he expressed concern about the ballot shortage issue, saying that "right after the local elections, the PPP seized the initiative on this issue, but so much energy has been poured into it and inflammatory messages from various quarters have become entangled with it that the impact is now being diluted."

Experts advise that what is needed from both parties is substantive policy competition that young people can actually feel, rather than symbolic gestures targeting the youth vote.

Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said that "in terms of sheer population, young people do not make up a huge share, but they have a tendency to express themselves immediately, which can make their voice feel louder." He added that "compared to other generations, a greater focus on personal interest is also one of their defining characteristics."

Shin said that "among the fairness issues young people emphasize, the sense that their voting rights were taken from them can also be understood, in part, as a violation of personal interest," and advised that "both parties need to show they are trying to correct the unfairness from the outset, not cover it up."

Political commentator Park Sang-byeong said that "from the perspective of young people, they also need to step forward first and speak up directly — that is what will prevent political parties from offering one-off policies just to buy votes." He added that "parties also need to be consistent on youth policy and make channels that can represent young people a part of everyday political life."


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