South Korea plans on paying an allowance to ‘reclusive young people’ to help them leave the house

South Korea launches new funding program ‘to enable reclusive youth to recover their daily lives and reintegrate into society’

File. People pose for selfies at the Lotte World Tower Seoul Sky on 12 August 2022. - South Korean government has decided to pay an allowance to reclusive youths to help them get out of their homes (AFP via Getty Images)

South Korea is planning on paying a monthly allowance of $490 to reclusive young people in an attempt to help them step out of their homes.

As part of a new measure passed by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in Seoul, the government is trying to bring lonely young people back to universities, schools and work.

It was earlier reported that South Korea has an estimated 350,000 people, aged between 19 and 39, who are experiencing loneliness, according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

South Korea launched this new funding program to help youths suffering from “hikikomori” — a condition named after a Japanese term coined to describe extreme social withdrawal.

The new measure by the government also offers education, job and health support, the local media reported.

“This policy is fundamentally a welfare measure,” Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University in Seoul, told Bloomberg.

“While it’s good to try various approaches to boost the working-age population, it cannot be seen as a long-term solution to fix the population problem here.”

Meanwhile, the new programme for reclusive youths includes an allowance for cultural experiences for teenagers.

The ministry released a document which had case studies of youths battling loneliness. “When I was 15 years old, domestic violence made me depressed so much that I began to live in seclusion. A lethargic person who sleeps most of the time or has no choice but to eat when hungry and go back to sleep,” one person said.

The government said in a statement that the new measure of paying an allowance to youths is meant “to enable reclusive youth to recover their daily lives and reintegrate into society”.

The government also plans on paying for the correction of affected people’s physical appearance, including scars “that adolescents may feel ashamed of”.