Cheong Wa Dae scrambles for response as youth support for Lee falls

President Lee Jae Myung has been making a series of public remarks on wealth polarization and youth marginalization, signaling a push to strengthen policy for young people. He has also called for more active communication in shaping youth policy, and Cheong Wa Dae appears to be closely tracking shifts in sentiment among younger voters.

Cheong Wa Dae is monitoring a wave of negative sentiment among young people that emerged after the local elections, with officials keeping a close eye on the ongoing protests near Jamsil, political sources said Saturday. The demonstrations — sparked by a ballot shortage that led to the blockade of the Olympic Park vote-counting center — swelled to an unofficial police estimate of about 33,000 participants as of June 6, though the crowds have since thinned from their peak. With the protests stretching into their 22nd consecutive day on Friday, Cheong Wa Dae and authorities are tracking the scale of the demonstrations and the age breakdown of participants.

A drop in approval among voters in their 20s and 30s is also seen as a contributing factor. According to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday, a survey of 1,000 eligible voters aged 18 and older conducted Tuesday through Thursday found that 36 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 said Lee was doing his job well, while 48 percent said he was not. Among those in their 30s, 47 percent gave a positive assessment and 44 percent a negative one — a margin of 3 percentage points in Lee's favor.

Compared with the previous survey conducted in the second week of June, however, approval fell across both age groups. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, the share saying Lee was performing well dropped 5 percentage points, from 41 percent to 36 percent, while the share saying he was not rose 5 points, from 43 percent to 48 percent.

Among respondents in their 30s, the share saying Lee was doing well had exceeded a majority at 53 percent in the previous survey, but fell 6 points to 47 percent two weeks later. The share saying he was not performing well rose 8 points, from 36 percent to 44 percent. (The survey was conducted via computer-assisted telephone interviews using randomly sampled virtual mobile numbers. Response rates were 11.3 percent for the second week of June and 10.5 percent for the fourth week. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. For further details, visit the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.)

Cheong Wa Dae is approaching the situation with a sense of urgency and focusing on developing countermeasures on youth sentiment, according to political sources. Lee has also been delivering a string of youth-related remarks. At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said that while the semiconductor boom had driven spectacular growth in the stock market, "the shadow of asset polarization looms large on the other side." He added that "young people, who lack the opportunity to build assets through stable jobs and income, are the most marginalized."

He went on to say that "the government must take the alienation felt by young people to heart," stressing that "careful and sustained efforts to give young people more opportunities across all policy areas are essential."

Lee also instructed officials to allocate additional budget if necessary to ensure that all applicants who applied within the two-week window could enroll in the government's "Youth Future Savings" program, a savings scheme aimed at helping young people build assets.

Youth-related remarks continued at a senior presidential secretary meeting chaired by Lee on Thursday. He highlighted the need to shift toward a selective volunteer military system centered on advanced equipment and technology, and asked officials to "prepare practical support measures so that the experience and capabilities young service members build during military service can serve as a foundation for growth in civilian life."

He also called for building a denser "ladder of opportunity" so young people can dream of a better future, and urged stronger direct communication with youth in shaping youth policy. Political observers expect policy responses aimed at winning back younger voters to continue for now.