[2020 National Audit] Park Young-sun: "Delivery App Monopoly Issue Requires Close Agreement Between National Assembly and Small Business Owners"

National Assembly Industry Committee Mid-term Audit of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups

Shin Young-dae, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated on the 8th that regarding the win-win cooperation between large and small businesses, the issue of monopolization by delivery app platform companies requires close agreement between the National Assembly and small business owners.

Minister Park made this remark during the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' audit at the Industry, Trade, and SMEs Committee held at the National Assembly, in response to Rep. Shin Young-dae of the Democratic Party's criticism that "delivery app platform companies such as Baedal Minjok's B Mart and Yogiyo's Yo Mart are infringing on neighborhood commercial districts."

According to Rep. Shin, Baedal Minjok's sales surged by 963.3% in August this year compared to November last year when B Mart was launched in the Seoul area. Meanwhile,

GS25 and CU convenience stores, which compete with delivery platform convenience stores, saw their average daily delivery orders drop from 2.7 in March this year to 0.5 in September.

In response, Minister Park said, "The biggest drawback of the digital economy is that only the strong survive, leading to monopolization issues that are always lurking," adding, "I have raised concerns about monopolization by online platform operators even at Cabinet meetings, and I hope this will be an opportunity to strengthen the Win-Win Cooperation Act through more communication with the National Assembly regarding monopoly prevention issues."

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