[Reporter’s Notebook] SEMAS Chairman Distracted by 'Office Relocation'

Self-employed business owners affiliated with the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise hold a rally near the Presidential Office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dong-hyun] Tomorrow (the 25th) marks 100 days since Park Seong-hyo was appointed as the Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS). Expectations were high when he, an outsider breaking the convention of appointing chairpersons from the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, was nominated as the 4th chairman. There was hope that someone with extensive administrative and political experience, such as a former mayor of Daejeon and a member of the National Assembly, would bring a different voice to the political arena as the head of an agency under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which has been at a disadvantage in inter-ministerial power struggles.

However, many small business owners have been disappointed since Chairman Park prioritized the 'office relocation' immediately after his inauguration. He is pushing to move the office from Jung-gu, the old downtown area of Daejeon, to Yuseong-gu, a newly developed district. At a time when policy formulation for small business owners and self-employed people, who are on the brink due to COVID-19 followed by high inflation and high interest rates, should be the top priority, the office relocation issue is swallowing up small business concerns like a black hole.

Recently, during the National Assembly audit of agencies under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties raised numerous questions opposing the office relocation. Most criticisms questioned whether it is appropriate for SEMAS to move out of Jung-gu, where traditional markets and small business owners are concentrated, to a hyper-modern building with large department stores and 5-star hotels. In response, Chairman Park argued, "Revitalization of the old downtown area is not closely related to the location of the agency," adding, "Revitalization should be achieved through policies, not by where the 400 SEMAS employees have lunch." He also appealed that the building's aging condition has led to poor working environments for employees, reasoning that improving working conditions would lead to better policies for small business owners.

It is true that SEMAS employees' treatment ranks at the bottom among the 11 agencies under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Compared to the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, their salaries are only about half. The turnover rate over five years has reached 26%. Regardless of the office relocation, improving employee treatment seems necessary.

However, if Chairman Park were sincere about improving SEMAS employees' treatment, he should have shown a different attitude during the audit. While he actively defended the necessity of the office relocation, he repeatedly showed a lack of understanding of SEMAS's key tasks. He confused disaster relief funds with compensation for losses and was unaware of the excellent franchise project that SEMAS has been promoting for over ten years, repeatedly apologizing with "I'm sorry." His immature grasp of the work actually undermined the rationale for the office relocation. Some even speculate that he might be trying to win local public opinion in advance, considering a run for the Yuseong-gu district in the next general election.

A meeting commemorating Chairman Park's 100 days in office will be held on the 27th. It is expected that he will make a final announcement regarding the office relocation on that day. However, what he truly needs to show on that day is what future vision he holds for the 5.5 million small business owners.

Park Sung-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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