Young Seoulites to Benefit from Culture Discount Card

In the near future, young Seoulites will be able to get a 70 to 80 percent discount on admission tickets to theaters and baseball games when using the "youth culture card," which is set to appear in the year 2002.

This card will first be distributed to some 10,000 unfortunate children, including 3,100 in Seoul orphanages, 900 in orphan-households, and 3,600 children from families on welfare. Afterwards, the card will be extended to award winners in competitions and honor students recommended by schools.

The City of Seoul announced on May 8 that the culture card is to go into effect starting in the year 2002, and will allow teenagers to pay only 20 to 30 percent of the normal ticket price for sports and cultural facilities, the difference being made up by the city.

According to this plan, Seoul will appropriate $900,000 of the $45 million youth-related budget for teenage leisure activities, and use it to issue its culture card.

The card will be valid at bookstores, performance halls, sports clubs, private libraries, and PC rooms, in addition to theaters and baseball stadiums.

The city is planning to send a research team to France, where a similar culture discount card is currently in use, and decide on specifics concerning the number of cards to be issued and the facilities where they will be accepted based on the results of their analysis.

Chung Sang-mun, head of the city administration's sport and youth department commented, "Eventually, more than half of the 1.5 million young people in Seoul will be able to benefit from this card."

by Yang young-yu