Seoul has drawn up its second supplementary budget for this year, worth 2.8061 trillion KRW, including 5.6 billion KRW to provide 500,000 young residents with access credits for generative artificial intelligence tools.
The funding converts the city's “Youth AI Ladder” initiative, announced in July, into an operational budget program.
Seoul said on Aug. 10 that it had submitted its proposed second supplementary budget for 2026 to the Seoul Metropolitan Council for review. The proposal represents a 2.8061 trillion KRW, or 5.2%, increase from the original budget of 53.7674 trillion KRW.
If approved as submitted, Seoul's total budget for this year will rise to 56.5735 trillion KRW.
Legally mandated expenditures account for 66.6% of the supplementary budget. The city allocated a combined 1.8698 trillion KRW, including 917.9 billion KRW in support for autonomous districts and education offices following the settlement of the 2025 fiscal year, as well as 886.3 billion KRW in contributions to the Integrated Fiscal Stabilization Fund and Housing Promotion Fund.
Seoul allocated 810 billion KRW for projects intended to deliver tangible benefits to residents after excluding those mandatory expenditures. Of that total, 409.7 billion KRW was assigned to the “Inclusive Seoul” category, 231.9 billion KRW to “Growing Seoul,” and 168.4 billion KRW to “Livable Seoul.”
A key initiative under the “Growing Seoul” category is the Youth AI Growth Pass program. Seoul earmarked 5.6 billion KRW to provide 500,000 young people—including students and job seekers aged 19 to 29—with one-year access to advanced generative AI services for coding, AI agents, and other applications.
The funding will support implementation of the Youth AI Ladder initiative announced in July. At the time, Seoul said it would provide AI access credits so that all young residents could use generative AI tools.
The city is currently negotiating large-scale licensing arrangements with multiple global AI companies and aims to begin providing the services within the year.
Beyond AI, Seoul is expanding investment in future industries such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles. It will allocate 500 million KRW to establish and operate autonomous-vehicle pilot zones, while increasing the number of late-night autonomous taxis operating in Gangnam from three last year to 19 this year.
The city has also allocated 40.3 billion KRW to promote electric-vehicle adoption. It plans to increase the number of subsidized EV purchases from 20,711 to 26,501 and expand the number of fast chargers for electric buses from 48 to 89.
The “Inclusive Seoul” category will receive 409.7 billion KRW to strengthen basic livelihood support and housing stability. This includes 222.1 billion KRW for enhanced basic livelihood security, 13 billion KRW to purchase public rental housing near transit stations, and 44 billion KRW to support housing-benefit recipients.
Seoul will invest 168.4 billion KRW in the “Livable Seoul” category. The funding will reinforce flood-response infrastructure through the construction and expansion of stormwater pumping stations and the installation of rainwater-storage facilities. It also includes 17.7 billion KRW to replace aging subway trains on Lines 6 and 7.
The city said the supplementary budget prioritizes mandatory expenditures related to the fiscal settlement while directing its limited discretionary resources toward livelihood recovery, future growth, and public safety.
“This supplementary budget prioritizes essential fiscal needs that must be addressed within the year, including legally mandated expenditures and matching funds for national subsidy programs,” said Lee Dong-ryul, acting head of Seoul's Planning and Coordination Office. “We will focus limited available resources on restoring livelihoods, fostering future growth, and strengthening public safety, while swiftly executing the budget after approval by the city council so that residents can experience meaningful change.”
