This group was bigger than the 3.2 percent of their peers who were getting vocational training.  There were more males in the group, up 105.2 percent from the previous year.

Another 17.4 percent said they did nothing, not even house chores.

State data put the youth unemployment rate for June at 10.5 percent, the highest for the month since 1999.

An official at Statistics Korea said that while the survey does not explain why some youths are not actively seeking work, it is possible that they just could not find jobs. "It may also be that the real point is not about whether one finds work or not, but about the growing social trend where free time is highly valued," he said.

Professor Lee Byung-hoon of Chung-Ang University noted that some young people quit even if they land jobs, finding it hard to assimilate into the working culture of the company that hired them.

"They could be living off of their parents, thinking after numerous failed attempts that they won't be able to work even if they tried," Lee said. (Yonhap)