1,777 young people<\/a> had reported. However, ministry data obtained by Lee showed that only 240 were referred to youth counselling and welfare centres. Just 119 people actually received counselling, and only 44 completed the process. No clear information was available on the remaining 121 referrals.<\/p>\n\n\n\nLee also highlighted a gap in support for out-of-school youth. Until 2022, national youth gambling surveys included them separately. Since the survey became official national statistics in 2024, it has covered only students enrolled in school. Centres under the ministry that support out-of-school youth and youth welfare facilities do not track gambling-related counselling or referrals on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee noted that KRW1.05bn (US$790,000) was allocated this year for programmes helping young people recover from digital media harm, but the budget does not separate cyber gambling support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee proposed placing specialist youth gambling counsellors in all of the country\u2019s roughly 240 youth counselling and welfare centres and expanding training for staff. He urged the government to track budgets and results for cyber gambling separately and to build faster systems that connect vulnerable and out-of-school young people to professional help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung<\/strong> agreed with the concerns. She said the ministry would draw up additional measures within the year and would consider a special cyber gambling budget during the National Assembly\u2019s budget review process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Only 44 of 1,777 young people who self-reported cyber gambling problems completed counselling by August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":777046429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A National Assembly audit in South Korea revealed that only 44 of 1,777 young people who self-reported cyber gambling problems completed counselling by August, highlighting significant gaps in the government's support and recovery systems. Lawmaker Lee Gwang-hee called for stronger counselling, dedicated budgets, and improved tracking, with Minister Won Min-kyung agreeing to develop additional measures.","focusai_entities":"Lee Gwang-hee, Democratic Party, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Korea Centre for Gambling Problem Prevention and Recovery, Won Min-kyung","focusai_location":"South Korea, Cheongju Seowon","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0), marketing_crm (0.7), product_ux (0.7)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Policy Impact?","query":"What specific legislative and budgetary measures will the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family implement to enhance youth cyber gambling recovery, and what is the projected timeline for these changes?"},{"label":"Operator Compliance?","query":"How will the proposed regulatory enhancements for youth cyber gambling support impact B2C operator licensing requirements, responsible gambling frameworks, and age verification protocols in South Korea?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,23876],"tags":[25085,152,25254],"class_list":["post-777049108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-social-news","tag-counselling","tag-south-korea","tag-youth-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777049108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777049108"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777049108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777049130,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777049108\/revisions\/777049130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777046429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777049108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777049108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777049108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}