SEOUL, South Korea — Jung Seong-hoon, 22, shared the frustrations of young South Koreans looking at a bleak future: Jobs are scarce, rent is high, and debt is climbing. So last month, he ran for a spot on his local city legislature and won.
Jung exemplifies the young blood entering South Korean politics in droves after lawmakers this year lowered the minimum age limit for political office to 18 from 25. That led to a record number of people under 40 running in local elections in June — 416 candidates, up from 238 in 2018. Among the 4,131 people who won their races, 11 were under 24 years old, including the youngest election winner in the country’s history, a 19-year-old.
But even before their terms began Friday, they encountered problems as old as politics itself. They say they face a political ecosystem dominated by politicians in their 50s and 60s who are out of touch, a prohibitively high bar for fundraising and an opaque network of party officials whose favor they must curry to stand a chance.
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