South Korea’s Halsal Loan Youth recorded a 20.5% rejection rate in the first half of this year, with 51,604 applications submitted. The youth-focused policy microfinance product supplied 114.4 billion Korean won during the period. Across general and special Halsal Loan guarantees, applications totaled 682,440 and rejection rates were 15.6% and 15.9%, respectively. Rejection rates for Halsal Loan Youth were 15.0% in 2022, 21.5% in 2023, 28.5% in 2024 and 18.9% last year. Rep. Park Sung-hoon warned that people excluded from policy finance could turn to card loans, private lenders or illegal private financing.