Park Seonghyo, Director of Sojinkong, "Strengthening Digital Capabilities of Traditional Markets... Supporting Future Leap"

Park Sung-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service.

"We will support the future leap of small business owners and traditional markets through continuous innovation."

On the 18th, Park Seong-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS), held a press conference marking his first anniversary in office at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, and made this announcement. Chairman Park plans to focus on activating domestic consumption, supporting overseas expansion, strengthening the digital capabilities of small business owners and traditional markets, organizational restructuring, and establishing a future vision, along with on-site support and mid- to long-term organizational innovation.

SEMAS will participate in the Donghaeng Festival scheduled for September. The plan includes contributing to economic revitalization through traditional market crowdfunding, promoting Onnuri gift certificates, operating the Paldo Market Tourism Train, linking small manufacturers to overseas sales channels, and supporting participation in the World Korean Business Convention.

The digital capabilities of small business owners and traditional markets will also be enhanced. By 2025, SEMAS plans to establish a 'Small Business Big Data Platform' that provides information on commercial districts, competing stores, sales figures, and more in one place. Additionally, digital education for traditional markets will be promoted centered on merchant organizations, and customized smart technology dissemination for small manufacturers will be supported.

Organizational restructuring and future vision establishment are also planned. SEMAS intends to innovatively reorganize by coordinating tasks among headquarters, regional headquarters, and centers, and improving working conditions for employees. Furthermore, to mark the 10th anniversary of the foundation in January next year, SEMAS will establish and announce a future vision and phased (short-, mid-, and long-term) strategic tasks for small business owners and traditional markets.

Chairman Park said, "Over the past year, we have devoted ourselves to customer- and field-centered support for small business owners and traditional markets struggling with COVID-19 recovery and the triple high (high inflation, high interest rates, high exchange rates)." He added, "We will continue to actively strive to fill small business owners and traditional markets with customers and vitality through continuous organizational innovation and customized support by sector."

Regarding the scheduled end of the extension and repayment deferral of self-employed loans at the end of September, Chairman Park stated that SEMAS will properly implement policies prepared by economic ministries and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. He said, "I understand that the government and financial sector are preparing support measures for financial difficulties faced by the self-employed. While we are not in a position to lead, we will prepare accordingly once policy directions are decided."

On the topic of relocating the headquarters, he hinted that it will be continuously reviewed as part of improving employee treatment. Last year, SEMAS faced criticism from local residents when attempting to move the headquarters from Jung-gu, the old downtown of Daejeon, to Yuseong-gu, the new downtown, with allegations of political motives. It was claimed to be a strategic move with the next year's general election in Yuseong-gu in mind. Chairman Park said, "Last year, we made many efforts, including promoting the relocation of the headquarters to improve employee treatment, but it was perceived as having political meaning and thus was not realized. Since welfare facilities such as restrooms and lounges have not yet been improved, we are continuing to look for larger spaces."

At the press conference, Chairman Park also presented the achievements of the past year. He emphasized efforts to operate projects centered on the field and customers instead of the existing government-centered approach to eliminate blind spots in support and create tangible results for the public. He explained, "We introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) voice bot for civil complaint response to overcome the limitations of limited counseling personnel and provide prompt and accurate consultations. We also supported customized counseling for vulnerable groups such as seniors, foreigners, and disabled small business owners."

In April, SEMAS officially launched the ‘Small Business 24’ one-stop support service platform for small business owners and traditional markets. Until then, more than 30 different project management systems were integrated into a single channel to enhance customer convenience.

SEMAS is also focusing on securing customers by holding traditional market shopping experience events for children and night markets at 56 markets nationwide. This year, SEMAS collaborated with local governments (city/county/district offices, education offices, and affiliated organizations) to link experiential activities for elementary and kindergarten students around traditional markets nationwide. In the first half of this year alone, about 69,000 children visited 328 traditional markets, receiving high acclaim. Chairman Park said, "At large marts, there are only goods but no people, but traditional markets have people, which children like and which also helps with education. We will continue to implement policies well with a goal of 100,000 children visiting this year."

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