[21st General Election] Five Proportional Representatives from SMEs and Ventures "Raise the Voice of Small and Medium Enterprises"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Five proportional representation candidates from the small and venture business sector succeeded in entering the 21st National Assembly.

According to the Central Election Commission on the 16th, the expected proportional representation seats after the completion of vote counting are ▲Future Korea Party 19 seats ▲Together Citizens' Party 17 seats ▲Justice Party 5 seats ▲People's Party 3 seats ▲Open Democratic Party 3 seats. The Central Election Commission will finalize the proportional representation winners at the plenary session at 5 p.m. after seat calculation and allocation, but it has become certain that former heads of small and venture business associations and executives of the Korea Federation of SMEs who ran as proportional representation candidates for Together Citizens' Party and Future Korea Party will enter the National Assembly. Accordingly, industry expectations are rising, and the candidates whose election is virtually confirmed are more motivated than ever.

Kim Kyung-man, a proportional representation candidate for Together Citizens' Party who worked as the head of the Economic Policy Headquarters at the Korea Federation of SMEs until just before the general election, pointed out 'unification of the financial support system for small business owners' as the first issue to address after entering the National Assembly. Kim said, "The COVID-19 pandemic revealed inefficiencies in the financial support system for small and medium enterprises and self-employed individuals," and emphasized, "I will prepare legislation to improve speed and execution efficiency." He added, "Financial authorities may resist, citing fiscal soundness issues and calling it 'indiscriminate handouts,' but I believe this is a challenge that must be resolved."

Lee Dong-joo, a proportional representation candidate for Together Citizens' Party and former vice president of the Korea Federation of Small Merchants and Self-Employed, who understands the hardships of small business owners better than anyone, said, "We will revise the existing Distribution Industry Development Act to more carefully protect the small distribution sector," and added, "We will prepare legislation to protect the distribution industry area of 7 million small and self-employed business owners." He emphasized, "Since the online shopping market has become active, we will also seek to prepare legislation to promote an online industry friendly to small and medium merchants."

Han Moo-kyung, who was recommended as the third priority proportional representation candidate for Future Korea Party and had early secured a path to the National Assembly, plans to propose the so-called 'Growth Ladder Act' as her first bill, which allows companies to receive support according to their growth stages. Han, also a businesswoman, served as president of the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association. Lee Young, a proportional representation candidate for Future Korea Party and former president of the Korea Women Venture Association, is focusing on deregulation of venture capital (VC) by large corporations and the flourishing of the software industry. Lee stated, "Proper pricing for software is essential so that through R&D investment, new products can be launched and companies can survive for over 20 years," and revealed plans to promote the 'Venture Capital (VC) Establishment Promotion Act' as her first bill after entering the National Assembly.

Choi Seung-jae, a proportional representation candidate for Future Korea Party who resigned from his position as president of the Small Business Federation to run in the general election, also made it onto the list of elected candidates. Choi said, "What I felt during the COVID-19 crisis is that despite the government's many efforts regarding disasters, there is no clear standard for the subjects suffering disaster damage," and added, "I will revise the law to include small business owners as 'economically vulnerable' as stated in the Constitution, thereby establishing grounds to protect small business owners who are directly hit by disasters." Choi also said, "I plan to propose the Small Business Welfare Act as my first bill."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.