South Korea is paying $500 per month to lonely young people in order to induce them to leave their homes and reconnect with society.
The new policy is intended to encourage shut-in teenagers to return to school, hunt for work, and “restore their daily lives,” according to the South Korean family ministry, which announced it on Wednesday.
The monthly grant is available to reclusive teenagers aged nine to 24, according to the ministry’s news statement.
According to the press release, the government will pay $500 per month for the youth’s food, clothing, lodging, and other living needs.
A ministry spokesman told Insider in an email that eligible youth will receive the money in the form of products or cash deposited to their bank account. If they are under the age of 18, the funds will be transferred to their parents or grandparents’ accounts with their permission, according to the spokeswoman.
As South Korea is paying $500 to the homebound youth, they will also not be required to document that they are traveling outside in order to continue receiving the money, according to the spokeswoman.
According to the ministry’s news statement, around 338,000 Koreans between the ages of 19 and 39 have become such “hermit-type loners,” citing 2022 statistics from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
These teenagers and young adults frequently isolate themselves at home for extended periods of time, avoiding school and jobs for months or even years. It’s similar to the hikikomori epidemic in Japan, where the number of shut-in youngsters is estimated to reach about one million, according to Japanese officials.
According to the government’s press release, many of these isolated youngsters come from disadvantaged families and began isolating themselves from society at an early age.
Personal trauma, bullying in school, academic stress, family strife, or a lack of care from their guardians or parents can cause young people to isolate themselves, according to the ministry in a blog post published on Tuesday.
According to case studies published by the South Korean family ministry, an unnamed 17-year-old stated that they began living in isolation at the age of 15 due to domestic violence.
They characterized themselves as a “lethargic person who sleeps most of the time” who ate merely to survive.
“It was hard to leave the house. Even if you muster up the courage to go outside, making eye contact with people was difficult,” the person said, per the government release.
The authorities are now concerned that prolonged physical isolation might make these youths prone to depression and stunt their physical growth because of their irregular lifestyles and lack of nutrition.
Korea is also racing to prepare for a steep decline in its working-age population. Experts are concerned the trend of a dwindling workforce might one day lead to a devastating imbalance in South Korea, with a small base of workers trying to support a swelling number of retirees.
Meanwhile, rising house prices and employment uncertainty in South Korea are putting enormous social and financial strain on the country’s young people.
According to a 2019 government survey, more than a quarter of Koreans aged 20 to 39 had been diagnosed with depression at some point. In addition, surveys conducted in 2019 and 2021 discovered that over one-third of South Korean middle and high school, pupils pondered suicide due to academic stress.
The $500 monthly grant is tied to Korea’s broader Youth Welfare Support Act.
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