As Soon as He Took Office, Kang Seok-jin Rushed to the Field; The Task is 'Innovative Growth'

Kang Seok-jin, New Chairman of the Small and Medium Business Corporation
"Establishing a Support System for Growth of SMEs in New Technologies and Industries"

On the 1st, Kang Seok-jin, the newly appointed chairman of the Small and Medium Business Corporation (SBC), visited Stem, an aircraft parts manufacturing company located in the Root Industrial Complex in Jeongchon-myeon, Jinju, Gyeongnam, as his first official schedule after taking office. Stem is a company equipped with the technology to simultaneously process and assemble parts for all types of aircraft, including commercial and military planes. Kang’s choice to visit an aerospace company in Gyeongnam as his first step is seen as reflecting the future policy direction and challenges of SBC. Gyeongnam is the region where the Space and Aviation Administration will be newly established and is fostering the aerospace industry as a key sector. One of SBC’s priority projects, headquartered in Jinju, is also regional industrial innovation. Kang named “establishing an innovation growth system for small and medium ventures through private cooperation” as his first task upon taking office, encompassing this vision.

Chairman Kang stated, “SBC must take the lead in creating a foundation for innovative growth by providing package support for funding, exports, and manpower so that small businesses can grow into medium-sized enterprises and venture companies can become unicorns.” He added, “We need to establish a support system where ‘the private sector leads and the government pushes’ to lay the stepping stones for innovation growth.” Kang has been recognized for his deep understanding of policy, administration, and the economy, having served as the mayor of Geochang County, senior administrative officer at the Presidential Secretariat, executive director at the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, and a member of the 20th National Assembly. However, the responsibilities assigned to him this time are not easy. Since its establishment in 1979 under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, SBC has managed a budget of about 10 trillion won annually, including the execution of 5 trillion won in policy fund loans to promote small and medium ventures, as well as support for company scale-up, global market entry, startup support, and workforce development. It is the frontline support institution for small and medium ventures in name and reality.

Kang Seok-jin, Chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (right), is visiting Stem Co., Ltd. and communicating with CEO Kim Tae-hyung.

After taking on this mission, Chairman Kang has shown particular determination to focus on supporting the growth of small and medium ventures in new technology and new industry sectors. On his first day in office, he visited Stem and emphasized the revitalization of the local economy, fostering the aerospace sector as a high value-added industry, and the potential for global market expansion. He said, “For small and medium ventures to overcome complex crises and advance into new technology and new industry sectors to become the main players in Korea’s economy, it is necessary to discover and intensively support companies capable of innovative growth through fair competition.”

To this end, Kang’s plan is to redesign SBC’s support methods and systems for small and medium ventures from the perspectives of “competitiveness enhancement” and “innovative growth” to discover and nurture innovative small and medium ventures. He said, “Support focused on survival or distribution-style support may only produce small and medium ventures barely surviving. We must fundamentally understand what companies truly want and need, and based on such data, SBC must redesign its business content and operational system centered on the needs of small and medium ventures in the field.”

Bold regulatory reform is also a challenge Kang must address, as companies in new technology and new industry sectors are often hindered by regulations. Kang emphasized, “To resolve the difficulties of small and medium ventures and enhance innovation and dynamism, bold regulatory reform is necessary. We must identify and eliminate or improve conventional regulations that obstruct business activities.”

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