[Profile] Park Joobong, SME Ombudsman, is...

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Park Ju-bong, Small Business Ombudsman (left), are seen exchanging opinions. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Park Ju-bong, the Small and Medium Business Ombudsman, is a "businessman." In his mid-20s in 1988, he founded Daeju Development based in Incheon and has since grown it into a mid-sized company with 15 affiliates, including KC and Daeju Heavy Industries, specializing in steel, logistics, chemicals, automotive & aviation, construction & energy sectors.

He served as chairman of the Korea Steel Structure Cooperative for 15 years and has been active in various fields, holding positions such as standing committee member of the Korean Olympic Committee, senior vice president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, chairman of the Incheon Construction Materials Council, vice president of the Korea Federation of SMEs, director of the Korea Juvenile Protection Association, president of the Northeast Asia Peace and Economy Association, and vice president of the Korea International Trade Association.

Because of this, he personally felt the necessity of deregulation more than anyone else and understands the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-sized companies well. He emphasizes that the primary customers of the Ombudsman are SMEs and mid-sized companies, and the secondary customers are government ministries and local governments. The Ombudsman's customers are the Ombudsman's reality, position, and role. This underscores how important and central "communication" is.

Ombudsman Park recently cited the "allowance of draft beer delivery" as a memorable case of regulatory improvement. As the culture of ordering food delivery expanded significantly and delivery app orders surged, the issue of draft beer delivery became a hot topic. While the sale of canned or bottled alcoholic beverages was permitted when ordering delivery foods like chicken, draft beer was prohibited. This was because transferring draft beer into separate containers such as PET bottles was considered "processing or manipulation of alcoholic beverages."

In reality, there were many cases where restaurants delivered draft beer at the request of consumers, but it was a gray area legally. Accordingly, he repeatedly requested the relevant authorities to allow the delivery of draft beer. In July of last year, it was legalized by revising the "Basic Guidelines of the Liquor Tax Act."

Ombudsman Park said, "Although businesspeople are going through tougher times than ever due to COVID-19, let us overcome these difficult times with hope and vision," adding, "The Small and Medium Business Ombudsman will do its best to ensure that SMEs, mid-sized companies, small business owners, and self-employed people can tangibly feel the results of regulatory innovation."

▲Small and Medium Business Ombudsman (Vice Minister level) (Current) ▲Vice President of Korea International Trade Association (Current) ▲Chairman of the Committee on Measures against Internal Transactions, Korea Federation of SMEs (Former) ▲Vice President of Korea Federation of SMEs (Former) ▲Vice President of Korea-China Economic Association (Former) ▲Chairman of Korea Steel Structure Cooperative (Former)

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