What the budget provides for
The Seoul city government presented on Thursday a 2027 budget proposal of 55.7 trillion won, equivalent to about $41.8 billion, the highest ever recorded for the city. As The Korea Herald reports, the plan is 8.3 percent higher than this year's original budget and will be submitted Friday to the Seoul Metropolitan Council. The stated priorities are young people's access to artificial intelligence and housing support.
The youth AI program and the price issue
The measure for AI is allocated 26.6 billion won, to offer subscriptions to generative artificial intelligence tools and targeted training to 500,000 young residents. The program revives an initiative whose 5.6 billion won allocation had been cut from a supplementary budget in September. According to the newspaper, the measure covers residents aged 19 to 29, with priority for applicants in disadvantaged circumstances and remaining registrations open to other eligible people.
Mayor Oh Se-hoon linked the measure to the speed with which the labor market and workplaces are changing, arguing that even a delay of a few months can make a difference. On costs, he said the city had negotiated a price of $2.50 per user with AI providers before the funding cut; according to local reports cited by the newspaper, this would be a monthly fee. Oh added that, even by including the item in next year's budget, providers have said they can no longer offer those terms, and that negotiations are not going in the hoped-for direction. Democratic Party council members expressed support for the goals but called for clearer eligibility criteria and delivery methods.
Housing, public spaces, and the review of multicultural families
On the housing front, 1.12 trillion won is earmarked for 27,200 public rental homes through purchases, leases, and construction. Monthly rent assistance will be expanded to 32,000 young people, up from 23,000 this year, with 126.2 billion won allocated. The city government also intends to spend 10.5 billion won to increase outdoor dining areas and neighborhood cultural events from six to sixteen. Cultural investments include 28.9 billion won for Yeouido Park and the second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts and 53.3 billion won to transform Nodeul Island into an arts destination.
Oh claimed an increase in spending on citizens' daily lives without increasing debt, despite rising mandatory expenditures and fixed costs and unfavorable treatment in central government financial support. He also announced that he had ordered a review of support policies for multicultural families, after President Lee Jae Myung had drawn attention to admission priorities at contracted postpartum care centers. In participating private centers, mothers from multicultural families have second priority, together with groups such as mothers with disabilities and single parents, while basic livelihood subsidy recipients and people near poverty have precedence. The presidential office clarified that the review aims to make priorities fairer without interrupting support. Oh acknowledged that preferences can make other applicants feel unfairly penalized, calling it difficult to find the balance, but reiterated the need for public investment in these families.
What remains to be verified
The text reports at the end, without context, a headline about Samsung Electronics and an approved dividend of 30 trillion won, unrelated to the city budget story: the information is not developed and is therefore not addressed here. Still to be clarified are the outcome of negotiations on AI subscription prices, the final eligibility conditions, and the timing of approval by the Metropolitan Council.
