Seoul Metropolitan Council cuts entire 5.62 billion won budget for youth AI access program

Democratic Party lawmakers cite insufficient preparation

Mayor Oh says council 'robbed young people of their moment'

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a youth AI startup forum held at Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks at a youth AI startup forum held at Seoul Startup Hub in Mapo-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

The Seoul Metropolitan Council, dominated by Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers, has sharply cut the budget for a youth AI voucher program — one of the flagship initiatives of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's ninth elected-term administration. The Seoul Metropolitan Government had argued for the program's necessity and lobbied the council, but ultimately failed to prevent the cuts.

The council's budget and accounts special committee passed a revised second supplementary budget for the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Friday.

The committee eliminated the entire 5.62 billion won ($4.2 million) allocated for the youth AI access support project. The program, the first youth policy of Oh's current term, aimed to bridge the AI information gap by providing 500,000 young Seoul residents with subscription vouchers for generative AI services such as ChatGPT and Gemini. In July, Oh personally outlined what he called a "youth AI basic right," saying investment in young people was "the most certain investment for Seoul's future and the clearest growth strategy toward making Seoul a top-three global city."

The council said it sympathized with the program's intent and recognized its necessity, but decided to cut the funding entirely, citing inadequate preparation. Ruling and opposition party lawmakers debated the proposed budget cut late into Thursday night, but Democratic Party members, who hold the majority, led the push for elimination, arguing the program was not sufficiently ready.

Budget committee chair Park Yu-jin of the Democratic Party said all committee members agreed with the program's direction of expanding young people's access to AI. "However, given that this is a project pursued with limited resources, it is more important to thoroughly examine who should receive what kind of support and how, rather than rushing to get started," Park said.

Several other items were also cut entirely from the supplementary budget: 288 million won for flood protection and maintenance of Han River bus water infrastructure and docking facilities; 100 million won to establish a master plan for a Han River pedestrian bridge; 77 million won for cluster and promotion-district revitalization; 55 million won for G-Valley revitalization; and 24 million won for a healthy meal support program for youth.

By contrast, a package of nighttime economy initiatives passed intact — among them 1.2 billion won for neighborhood outdoor bar zone development and operations, 200 million won for the Seoul Gourmet Night Walk, 90 million won for nighttime facility design development, 200 million won for a firefly garden, 290 million won for the Namsan Night Festival, and 164 million won to extend evening hours at the International Garden Expo.

The city had drawn up the second supplementary budget at 2.81 trillion won, a 5.2 percent increase from the base budget of 53.77 trillion won. With the council's amended approval, Seoul's total budget this year stands at 56.57 trillion won.

Oh responded to the cuts on his SNS account, writing that in an era of rapidly evolving technology, "this budget cut did not simply delay the start of a project — it robbed young people of their moment to seize an opportunity." He added that "branding a policy with no clear, serious flaws as a shoddy project without grounds and cutting it entirely is, by any measure, an obvious act of tyranny by a majority council."


ikson@heraldcorp.com