Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) announced recruitment for its fourth 2030 Youth Advisory Group on October 19, 2026. The group's work is to bring younger people's views into agricultural and food policy. The individual Youth DB recruitment notice states October 19 at 09:00 through November 9 at 18:00, 2026. The ministry's shorter press release did not include those hours.
A practical eligibility check
The stated audience is citizens of the Republic of Korea aged 19 through 39 (international age, 만 나이) who are interested and enthusiastic about MAFRA policy. The individual notice calculates age as of the planned appointment date, December 16, 2026, and gives an eligible birth-date range of December 17, 1986 through December 16, 2007. Neither the press release nor the specific notice lists farming employment as a prerequisite. The notice disallows applying concurrently to multiple ministries and says a duplicate application may be invalidated. Ask the ministry about borderline individual circumstances rather than treating this article as an eligibility ruling.
Applications go through the individual fourth-cohort listing on Youth DB (청년DB). The stated route is to register, open “Find Young People” (청년을 찾습니다), submit via the notice with a Youth DB profile, and check completion under “Registration status → Competition application status” (등록 상태 → 공모전 신청현황). The public notice displays an Apply button, but a logged-in submission was not tested. MAFRA says its own website and the Tantan-daero young-farmer platform also carry selection-process information; it does not designate those as alternative application portals.
Selection is separate from application
MAFRA plans to select approximately 20 people after document review and interviews, considering gender and regional balance among other factors. The notice tentatively schedules document-screening results for November 16, interviews for November 23, and final results in the week of November 30; dates may change. Appointees will serve one year from their appointment date, advising on major policies, proposing ideas and attending workshops and meetings. Neither applying nor meeting the birth-date range guarantees an appointment.
A sensible personal checklist is: confirm the specific notice and the latest schedule, check the age-assessment rule and requested profile, apply through Youth DB, then check the application-status screen. This is editorial advice, not a published government checklist. The information combines the October 19 press release and the individual notice; verify later corrections with the agency.
Naver companion: Short Korean application guide.
About the Author
Life Mokcha cross-checked the ministry's press release against the individual fourth-cohort Youth DB listing. It cannot decide an applicant's eligibility or selection result.
References
- Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, “Fourth MAFRA 2030 Youth Advisory Group open recruitment,” October 19, 2026, republished by Korea Policy Briefing (Korean).
- PDF of the same release and publicity annex (Korean). The page and PDF are two versions of one announcement, not independent corroboration.
- Youth DB fourth-cohort recruitment notice and application instructions (Korean; individual deadline and age rule).
- MAFRA recruitment notice with announcement No. 2026-545 (Korean).
