Lee says telling youth 'failure is the mother of success' could get you slapped

President Lee Jae Myung said Friday that telling young people "failure is the mother of success" or that "a youth who dares to challenge is beautiful" would likely get you slapped these days.

Lee made the remarks at a youth policy expert forum on a major overhaul of youth policy, held Friday afternoon at the main building of Cheong Wa Dae. "The era we lived in was objectively difficult, but it was also a time full of opportunity and hope," he said.

He then said society has become one where opportunities are severely lacking. "The older generation enjoyed many opportunities and reaped the rewards that came with them, but it seems the new generation has been left with far fewer," Lee said.

Lee also noted that economic growth has shown some recovery since his administration took office, but called the trend unusual. "It appears that growth without employment — the kind that does not require much labor — has become the norm," he said.

Looking ahead at the job market, Lee said he doubted whether growth would translate into jobs at the same rate as in the past. "As AI becomes the center of the future industrial society, this is becoming a world where even economic growth may not generate a corresponding number of jobs," he said.

Lee repeatedly acknowledged that young people are becoming frustrated as the nation fails to give them enough opportunities. "This government has made many policy efforts to address the difficulties facing youth, but we have not yet produced results tangible enough to be felt," he said.

He also admitted that youth policies pursued by his administration have fallen short in the eyes of young people. "For quite a long time we said we were giving policy consideration to youth, but that was measured against the standards of the older generation," Lee said. "The question is whether it is truly sufficient given the situation young people face today."

Lee added that policymakers had long operated under the assumption that young people have plenty of opportunities, good health and a bright future ahead of them. "There was a genuine belief that since failure is the mother of success, it was better for them to keep trying, stumble and get back up — that the experience itself would be valuable," he said.

He then said he hoped the forum would help identify what approaches are actually effective and what young people specifically want.

Lee stressed the need for a shift in thinking, saying the core problem with government policy as he sees it is a supply-side mindset. "There is a tendency to think, 'Isn't this enough?' — but from the perspective of the people the policy is meant to serve, the reaction is often, 'No, that's not it. You're missing the point entirely.' A change in thinking is needed," he said.