South Korea is to offer reclusive youths a monthly living allowance of 650,000 won ($490) in order to encourage them out of their homes, as part of a new measure passed by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The measure also offers education, job and health support. The condition is known as "hikikomori", a Japanese term that roughly translated means, "to pull back". The government wants to try to make it easier for those experiencing it to leave the house to go to school, university or work. Included in the programme ... is a monthly allowance for living expenses for people aged between nine and 24 who are experiencing extreme social withdrawal. It also includes an allowance for cultural experiences for teenagers. About 350,000 people between the ages of 19 and 39 in South Korea are considered lonely or isolated about 3% of that age group " according to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. Secluded youth are often from disadvantaged backgrounds and 40% began living reclusively while adolescents, according to a government document outlining the measures. The document includes case studies that describe young people using reclusiveness as a way to cope. One young person describes their depression as a result of domestic violence. "When I was 15 years old, domestic violence made me depressed so much that I began to live in seclusion." Another said that they had become a recluse when their family "went bankrupt".