Lee So-young launches reform to cut red tape, boost Korea SMEs in strategic sectors

Minister Lee So-young said at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) audit by the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee held at the National Assembly on the 7th that the government will launch a "Startup and Venture Regulation Innovation Committee" to speed up breaking regulations on new industries and expand small and midsize businesses' participation in national strategic industries and large projects. She also stressed that the second round of the "Startup for All" program will be doubled in size and that the expense burden on small business owners will be objectively quantified and continuously managed.

The Minister said in her remarks that "the situation faced by our small business owners and small and venture businesses is still far from easy," adding, "The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will focus all policy capabilities on easing difficulties on the ground and spreading the warmth of growth."

First, the Minister emphasized restoring small business owners and boosting vitality. She said, "We will quantify in objective indicators and have the government continuously manage the expense burdens of small business owners, such as rent, labor costs, interest, and platform fees." She added, "We will revamp the policy fund operation structure to center on vulnerable business operators, and strengthen the social safety net by expanding support for self-employed workers' employment insurance premiums and introducing new support for workers' compensation insurance premiums and health care."

In startups and ventures, the Minister said the government will establish a "Startup and Venture Regulation Innovation Committee" to identify and improve regulations that block entry into new industry markets. She said, "We will make sure that new attempts are not blocked by a wall of regulations before they even begin," adding, "We will identify improvement tasks together with associations and groups and find solutions from the standpoint of corporations and the public."

Startup support will also be expanded. The Minister said, "We will double the size of support for the second round of Startup for All and newly designate six startup cities to build a region-led startup ecosystem," adding, "We will rally private capital such as pension funds around the Mother Fund and push to extend the Mother Fund's duration to establish a mid- to long-term base for venture investment."

On strengthening small and midsize businesses' competitiveness, the Minister said the government will support their participation from the design stage of national strategic industries and large projects. She said, "The fruits of national investment and innovation should flow not only to large corporations but to the entire industrial ecosystem," adding, "We will nurture innovative companies in new growth areas such as new security, pharmaceuticals and bio, and Climate Tech into global innovators by providing long-term, bundled support."

The achievement of small and midsize businesses' "record-high exports" will also be further spread. The Minister said, "While supporting overseas expansion of innovative small and midsize business products such as beauty, food, and fashion based on K-culture, we will induce rapid export growth by establishing export road maps tailored to each stage of corporate growth," adding, "We will actively back small and midsize businesses from diagnosis to facility conversion and commercialization so they do not fall behind changes such as AI transition and carbon neutrality."

The Minister also presented eradicating technology theft and expanding win-win cooperation as key tasks. She said, "We will expand effective sanctions against technology theft, including strengthening administrative sanctions and introducing large-scale penalty surcharge," adding, "We will push for legislating platform win-win cooperation and evaluating financial companies' win-win finance index so that win-win cooperation spreads to various ecosystems such as platforms and finance."