First honored in 2019, Seongdong-gu takes the Youth-Friendly Award for a sixth consecutive year since 2021, claiming this year's Policy Award

District recognized for youth policies spanning expanded policy participation, jobs, housing and the restoration of social relationships

Award ceremony
Award ceremony

Seongdong-gu in Seoul said it won the Policy Award at the 2026 Youth-Friendly Award, hosted by the nonprofit Youth and Future under the National Assembly Secretariat. The win marks its sixth consecutive year receiving the honor.

Seongdong-gu won the Grand Award in 2019, the Policy Award in 2021 and 2025, and the Communication Award from 2022 to 2024. With this year's Policy Award, it has now been recognized for six consecutive years.

Launched in 2018, the Youth-Friendly Award recognizes local governments and organizations that have contributed to improving young people's quality of life and building youth-friendly environments. Seongdong-gu was recognized for actively reflecting young people's voices in policy and consistently pursuing tangible youth policies across areas such as jobs and housing.

Notably, Seongdong-gu was designated a second-batch Youth-Friendly City by the prime minister. The designation gives it a framework to systematically carry out youth policies tailored to local characteristics over five years, from 2026 to 2030. Building on this designation, the district established the Seongdong-gu Youth-Friendly City Five-Year (2026-2030) Basic Youth Policy Plan and is carrying out 62 projects across five areas.

First, the district is expanding youth participation in policymaking through its Youth Policy Committee and Youth Policy Network. This year, it is launching a new project to implement and test policy ideas proposed directly by young people, aiming to translate their participation into tangible change.

In jobs, the district runs the Seongdong Work-Up Project, which draws on the local industrial ecosystem of social ventures and startups in Seongsu-dong. The project gives young people work experience and career-exploration opportunities. It also supports job seeking, business startups and skills development through the Youth Challenge Support Project, subsidies for language and certification exam fees, and startup mentoring.

In housing, Seongdong-gu offers hands-on support such as its own monthly rent subsidy for young residents and half-price brokerage fee support. It also provides a service that helps tenants safely sign jeonse and monthly rent contracts. It also plans to expand its existing moving-vehicle support project by linking it with professional moving companies, easing the burden of moving for young residents.

Seongdong-gu also uses the Seongdong-gu Youth Support Center and Seoul Youth Center Seongdong as hubs for youth policy, linking programs on life planning, counseling, jobs, startups, skills development and community. It is also expanding spaces where young people can freely gather, network and grow, including the Seongdong Youth Startup Center and the Seongdong-style co-working space Seonggong Space.

Alongside this, the district is strengthening programs such as its Youth Outreach Mentoring service, which helps young people restore daily routines and rebuild social relationships. The Seongdong-gu Youth Support Center was newly designated this year as a regional center for the Seoul Metropolitan Government's support project for isolated and reclusive young people. This designation further strengthened the related support system.

Seongdong-gu District Mayor Yoo Bo-hwa said, "Winning the Youth-Friendly Award for six consecutive years is the result of reflecting young people's voices in policy and consistently pursuing the policies they need." She added, "We will continue to develop policies that young people can genuinely feel the benefit of, and build a youth-friendly Seongdong that young people want to live in and stay in."


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