The number of people in their 20s with bad credit is rapidly increasing. According to the office of Democratic Party of Korea member Lee Kang-il, the number of people in their 20s registered as bad credit risk was 65,887 as of July. Why are the number of young people who are experiencing financial difficulties from the time they first step into society increasing? And why do they end up in debt? Tracking 60 Minutes listened to the stories of young people in their 20s. ■ I Invested by Taking Out Debt to Avoid Falling Poor Choi Seong-jun (pseudonym), a young man in his 20s, borrowed money and invested in Bitcoin, but lost it all and paid off his debt over three years. However, he later invested in stocks thinking it would be his last chance and lost everything on that too. Young people who take on so-called “debt investments” by taking out debt. Why do they jump into investments so recklessly? “While others were making a lot of money and becoming rich, I only had 300,000 won left after saving and living expenses for about 2.2 million won a month. I had a strong desire to know when I would become rich.” Choi Seong-jun (pseudonym) / 20s - “I knew from when I was in college that I could never save a lot of money with my salary. I couldn’t rest at all, and I felt anxious about constantly needing money.” Yoo Ji-soo (pseudonym) / 26 years old - ■ Postponed generation: The period of job preparation is getting longer According to the ‘2024 May Economically Active Youth Supplementary Survey Results’ released by Statistics Korea, it took 11.5 months for young people to get their first job as of May. This is the longest period since related statistics were first compiled in 2004. This also means that as the period of striving for better universities and better jobs gets longer, the time of entering the job market is getting later, and the time they have to endure without earning money is increasing. “Basic income comes from a job, but if you don’t have a job or it takes a long time to get a job, you’re bound to face an economic crisis in the meantime. And if you invest in assets to overcome it quickly and fail, you have to spend more time recovering, so it’s that much slower. So of course, those things are linked to social polarization and changes in the social structure, and the problem of inequality is clearly embedded in this.” Baek Ju-seon / Attorney - ■ Debt is also inherited Seung-woo (pseudonym), a 20-something office worker, studied hard and worked part-time jobs to prepare for his 20s. However, seven years ago, he lent his name to his father, who runs a business, and ended up in debt of about 200 million won. Another young man, Gyeong-ho (pseudonym), took out a loan to help his mother’s travel agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, but his debt kept growing and he ended up going through personal bankruptcy. “I work 12 hours a day. I work at a job where I go to work at 10 and leave at 10. When I see people who go abroad with their parents’ money and study abroad without doing anything, I honestly envy them. I have to work all day to make a living, but they can live leisurely and prepare for the future. It’s just… from my perspective, it’s really… “Jeon Gyeong-ho (pseudonym) / 32 years old - Why did these young people, who didn’t have bad spending habits or make extravagant investments and just worked hard, end up caught up in debt? Experts emphasized that debt among people in their 20s should be viewed as a social structural problem, not an individual problem. “Most young people who file for personal bankruptcy lack three things. First, they don’t have much support from their families. So, in fact, young people who do have support from their families receive a lot of help from their families before they start their bankruptcy. Second, they don’t have much stable income. Third, they don’t have their own assets. After consulting with them for 10 years, I’ve found that young people who don’t have these three things are bound to collapse when a small trigger comes.” Jeon Yeong-hun / Counselor, Seoul Welfare Foundation Youth Center - ■ Can the vicious cycle of bad debt be stopped? The young people we met had several things in common. They were in situations where it was difficult to expect help from their families, had unstable jobs, or lacked financial knowledge. The increasing debt among people in their 20s. Can we blame them alone? The current environment where good jobs are decreasing and people are forced into debt was not created by people in their 20s. “They will become a lost generation. If we do not create opportunities for them to rise again, if there is no such policy support, they will spend their entire lives moving from one unstable, low-paying job to another, and later on, they will become a burden on society.” Choi Sang-mi / Professor, Department of Social Welfare Counseling, Dongguk University - Episode 1385 of Tracking 60 Minutes, “Bad Debt, Why Do People in Their 20s Get Into Debt?” will air on KBS 1TV on Friday, October 25 at 10:00 PM. Copyright ⓒ KBS. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution, and use (including AI learning) prohibited Since 1983, Korea's first investigative program Tracking the truth with the eyes of common sense Every Friday at 10 p.m. KBS1 《Tracking 60 Minutes》 ✔ Tips: 010-4828-0203 / Tracking 60 Minutes homepage / [email protected] ▶Homepage: https://program.kbs.co.kr/2tv/culture... ▶KakaoTalk Channel: http://pf.kakao.com/_fxgiyxj