Daejeon recruits 100 youth lawmakers for inaugural youth assembly

Daejeon is establishing a youth-led governance body to drive the city's youth policy from design through implementation and evaluation, creating a bottom-up channel that brings young residents' voices directly into city administration.

The city announced Monday it is accepting applications for 100 youth lawmakers to serve in the inaugural Daejeon Youth Assembly, a flagship initiative under the ninth elected administration's core vision of making Daejeon a "special city for youth."

With young people making up 28.6 percent of its population and an average resident age of 44.8, Daejeon is the second-youngest among South Korea's special and metropolitan cities — a demographic profile the city says makes it well-placed to channel fresh ideas from young residents into public administration.

Selected youth lawmakers will be assigned to one of four subcommittees aligned with their stage of life: career exploration, entry into society, career development and family formation. They will conduct substantive policy research within their assigned committee.

Their main responsibilities will include identifying policies that young people actually need, linking proposals to participatory budgeting mechanisms so they can be reflected in real policy, and monitoring and reporting back on how those policies are carried out and what results they produce.

Any resident of Daejeon between the ages of 18 and 39 as of the application opening date — born between Sept. 22, 1986, and Sept. 21, 2008 — is eligible to apply.

To ensure transparency and broad representation, 25 members will be selected for each of the four subcommittees through a randomized stratified lottery that takes into account the youth population share of each district and gender balance. Two spots per subcommittee will be reserved for people with disabilities, youth leaving state care, and others in need of social consideration, so that no voice goes unheard.

Applications will be accepted online through the Daejeon Youth Portal from Monday through Oct. 11. Lottery results will be posted on the portal on Oct. 15, and after verification of supporting documents, the final list of selected youth lawmakers will be announced on Oct. 22.

To build the capacity of selected members, the city plans to run a tailored policy school, organize visits to city administration sites, offer study tours of leading youth policy programs, and hold workshops. It will also support active committee participation by providing meeting attendance allowances, travel expenses, and commendations for outstanding members.

"The real-world concerns young people feel in their daily lives, and the fresh solutions they come up with, are the most reliable compass for designing Daejeon's future," Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong said. "I will spare no support to ensure that the inaugural Daejeon Youth Assembly becomes a stage for innovation — one that fully translates the vivid voices of young people into real budgets and policies."