The Seoul Metropolitan Council cut most of the young adult AI growth budget that Mayor Oh Se-hoon presented as a key initiative of the ninth popularly elected term. In contrast, the "rights-centered public jobs" budget demanded by the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination (SADD) was said to have a high chance of being revived.
On the 3rd, the Urban Planning and Balance Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council eliminated the entire 5.6 billion won budget for the pilot project to support the young adult AI growth zone (Young Adult AI Ladder).
The Young Adult AI Ladder is the first youth policy of the ninth popularly elected term that Mayor Oh released in person on July 2, the day after taking office. It aims to strengthen AI competency by providing generative artificial intelligence (AI) vouchers to 5 million young adults ages 19 to 29. However, Democratic Party council members said that the eligibility, service method, and selection procedures had not been made specific and called for a supplementary plan.
The 1.2 billion won budget related to revitalizing the nighttime economy, one of the mayor's key initiatives, was also cut.
On the same day, the Health and Welfare Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed an amendment to the local government ordinance on "rights-centered public jobs." Rights-centered public jobs is a program that pays wages by recognizing as labor the activities of people with severe disabilities, who have difficulty working in the general labor market, when they carry out disability awareness improvement, culture and arts, and advocacy activities. Introduced during the Park Won-soon administration, the program was operated through 2023 and then halted.
City council members from the People Power Party opposed the resumption of the program, calling it a "budget related to SADD." Choi Jong-bu, Spokesperson for the People Power Party's Seoul Metropolitan Council, said that day, "The reality of the disability jobs revived by the Democratic Party is appalling," adding, "During the past pilot, more than 50% was rallies and demonstrations, and 85% of the participating groups were organizations under SADD."
This budget adjustment appears to reflect the composition ratio of the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Of the current 118 seats, the Democratic Party holds 80.