Lee Young: "We Will Realize a Warm Digital Economy Led by Small and Medium Ventures" (Comprehensive)

30-Day Press Conference on the 100th Day of Lee Young's Inauguration as Minister of SMEs and Startups
100-Day Achievement Highlighted as 'Overcoming Crisis'

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is presenting the "100-Day Achievements and Core Policy Promotion Strategy" at a press conference commemorating his 100th day in office, held on the 30th at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

Lee Young, Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of SMEs), marked his 100th day in office by presenting the vision of "Realizing a Warm Digital Economy." He expressed his ambition to lead innovation based on the digital economy and coexistence across the Ministry's areas of responsibility, including startups, small merchants, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

At a press briefing held on the 30th at the briefing room of the Government Seoul Office Annex, Minister Lee stated, "The second half of this year is a critical period that will determine whether we leap forward as a leading digital economy nation." By 2030, the dominant country of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be decided, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic followed by a triple high (high inflation, high interest rates, high exchange rates) complex crisis, the "golden time" to become a leading digital economy nation is running out. Minister Lee said, "Considering digital competitiveness, if only execution is guaranteed, there is a chance of success," and explained the core tasks and policy directions across various fields.

◆Startups and Ventures to Drive Digital Economy Innovation=First, the Ministry of SMEs plans to actively promote deregulation reforms and global expansion in the startup and venture sector. Minister Lee said, "We must break down regulations in areas where many companies are challenging." Specifically, the plan is to expand the regulatory free zones into global innovation zones. For example, in the regulatory free zones, businesses currently deemed illegal under existing laws and norms are being tested, but there are restrictions based on the address. Going forward, the system will be changed so that participation in demonstration tests is possible regardless of the address.

To promote global expansion, measures will be implemented to attract foreign capital and expand global networks. Minister Lee explained, "Although the number of domestic unicorns is increasing, it is hard to find unicorns dominating the global stage," and added, "We will activate the global expansion of the startup ecosystem so that they can go beyond borders and thrive."

◆Small Merchants to Become Innovative Entrepreneurs=In the small merchants sector, overcoming crises and enhancing competitiveness were presented as key tasks. Minister Lee diagnosed, "Small merchants have put out the urgent fires," and emphasized, "We need to move towards policies that foster corporate-type small merchants along with full recovery." To this end, a project applying venture business development programs to small merchants will be promoted. The goal is for small merchants to start, become ventures, and eventually unicorns. Minister Lee said, "We will select promising small merchants through competition and pitching and invest in them," and added, "We will create groups of commercial district planners and public-private matching funds to foster alleyway commercial districts with professional teams joining."

Minister Lee also placed emphasis on coexistence for small merchants. He intends to create measures to change the structure where small merchants suffer from fees behind the growth of platforms into unicorns. He introduced, "Platform companies are causing social problems due to conflicts with small merchants," and said, "We are preparing an event next month where leading platform companies will declare coexistence."

Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, is presenting the '100-Day Achievements and Core Policy Promotion Strategy' at a press conference commemorating his 100th day in office, held on the 30th at the Government Seoul Office in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

◆SMEs to Grow in a Fair Market=Regarding SME policies, Minister Lee emphasized the need to eradicate unfair trade and accelerate digital transformation. A representative example is the pilot project for the delivery price linkage system. Minister Lee said, "The Ministry of SMEs and the Fair Trade Commission are creating incentive plans to increase voluntary participation companies in the delivery price linkage system," and added, "The pilot project is planned for about six months, and we expect to complete the registration of about 30 companies as initially anticipated by the deadline." He also added, "Not only the number of participating companies but also the variety of items should increase."

Minister Lee said he would also focus on supporting digital transformation so that SMEs are not left out in the Fourth Industrial Revolution round. The smart factory initiative will focus more on qualitative advancement than quantitative growth. He explained, "There are 30,000 smart factories that have been established, and there are parts that need to be maintained and improved to ensure they are properly settled."

◆100-Day Achievements: 'Overcoming Crisis'=On this day, Minister Lee cited "overcoming crisis" as the first achievement of his 100 days in office. Through loss compensation of 22.5 trillion won, loss compensation of 2.5 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, and refinancing loans started in July, full recovery of small merchants was supported. To respond to the triple high complex crisis that began to hit SMEs, seven task forces for corporate risk response were operated. Minister Lee said, "One of them is resolving difficulties for export SMEs," and added, "We started immediately with private companies on things we can do, such as dedicated shipping support routes for SMEs."

Minister Lee also cited as achievements the dedicated policy funds of 50 billion won and special guarantees of 50 billion won to support the recovery of the nuclear power SME ecosystem on the verge of collapse. He also explained as an achievement the hosting of the public-private cooperative Fabless Challenge with Samsung Electronics for SMEs and startups possessing design-related technology in the system semiconductor field.

He emphasized, "The Ministry of SMEs has significant duties and responsibilities in the digital economy system," and said, "It is difficult to come up with ideas, but it is also difficult to continuously execute them. We will strive to ensure that what has been announced will definitely produce results."

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