O Sehee's Inauguration as President of Sogongyeon... "Focusing on Small Business Loss Compensation and Enactment of Onple Act"

O Sehee, President of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise, is speaking at the 'Meeting with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum and Small Business Owners and Self-Employed' held at Dream Square in Mapo-gu, Seoul on September 27. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises announced on the 15th that it held the inauguration ceremony of the 4th president, Oh Se-hee, and the Small Business Week performance report meeting at Yeouido 63 Square in Yeouido, Seoul.

Earlier, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises elected President Oh as the 4th president through the regular general meeting held on August 31 this year. On this day, President Oh proposed measures such as ▲establishing a Small Business Policy Research Institute ▲building a small business mutual aid system ▲creating a small business town and constructing a small business hall ▲establishing a Small Business Development Foundation.

In his inaugural speech, President Oh said, “The loan balance of small business owners increased by 150 trillion won during the COVID-19 crisis, from 748 trillion won in January last year to 900 trillion won in September this year,” adding, “The survival of small business owners is pushed to the edge of a cliff, and the end of the long tunnel called COVID-19 is still not visible.” He continued, “Small business owners who complied with government quarantine rules are becoming unilateral scapegoats of COVID-19,” and added, “The government, the National Assembly, and our society must unite to help small business owners regain strength and become a new driving force of our economy.”

O Se-hee, President of the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise, held a press conference on the 9th at the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, announcing opposition to the application of the quarantine pass. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

President Oh stated that he intends to focus on the Online Platform Fairness Act and other issues. He said, “Ahead of the presidential election, discussions are ongoing in the political circles about the need for support ranging from 50 trillion to 100 trillion won for small business owners’ loss compensation,” adding, “We will unite the power of small business owners to ensure that such discussions are established as definite pledges and realized.” He continued, “We will focus on legislative measures such as full loss compensation for small business owners to overcome COVID-19 damage, enactment of the Online Platform Fairness Act, and opposition to the expansion of the Labor Standards Act to workplaces with fewer than five employees to resolve small business owners’ pending issues.”

He also criticized the amendment to apply the Labor Standards Act to workplaces with fewer than five employees. President Oh said, “The expansion of the Labor Standards Act to workplaces with fewer than five employees, which is being promoted amid the COVID-19 crisis, is pushing small business owners into a crisis on top of another,” and argued, “Considering that the average income of small business owners is much lower than that of general workers, discussions can only be possible after establishing a social safety net for small business owners.” He emphasized, “The ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) win-win management, which has recently become a hot topic among companies, should be promoted with priority given to small business owners who are experiencing extreme crises.”

At the performance report meeting following President Oh’s inauguration ceremony, the achievements of the Small Business Conference held last month at the Changwon Convention Center in Gyeongnam were announced. The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprises stated that it intends to lead the complete recovery of small business owners’ daily lives through reorganizing regional organizations and expanding support infrastructure for member organizations based on this event.

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