President Lee Jae-myung: 'For Youth, Competition is Pain... Opportunity Deprivation So Severe Friends Are Viewed as Enemies in War'

President Lee Jae-myung, while presiding over the 'Youth Budget Unboxing' event held at the Blue House on the 28th, diagnosed that the youth have become the most vulnerable class among generations, deprived of opportunities to the extent that they regard competition as pain and view friends as enemies in war.

President Lee pointed out the disconnect between the optimistic view of the older generations and reality. Mentioning the reality in which sufficient opportunities are not provided to the youth, he explained, "The older generations think that since youth are full of promise and have a bright future, they can do anything if given opportunities, but those opportunities do not exist."

President Lee emphasized that society must guarantee opportunities commensurate with effort before merely demanding effort from youth, stating, "The most important of these opportunities is economic opportunity." Accordingly, the government has expanded the budget for youth policy for next year to 43.3 trillion won.

This event was held as an opportunity for the President to personally announce the details of major youth support programs that will be implemented starting next year to the public.