'2023 Jungso Gieop Leaders Forum' Closing... Unified Call for "Regulatory Reform"

'Small and Medium Enterprises Running Again, Greater Republic of Korea' Theme for Four Days
Over 400 SME Entrepreneurs Gather to Pledge Overcoming Crisis

From the 12th to the 15th, at Lotte Hotel Jeju, Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, former President Lee Myung-bak, and Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, took a commemorative photo at the '2023 SME Leaders Forum'.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced that the '2023 SME Leaders Forum,' held over four days from the 12th to the 15th at Lotte Hotel Jeju, has concluded.

This forum was held under the theme 'SMEs Running Again, A Greater Republic of Korea.' Over 400 small and medium-sized business owners gathered to design the role and commitment of SMEs for Korea's leap forward.

Starting with the keynote speech by Lee Myung-bak, the 17th President of the Republic of Korea, and a special lecture on 'SME Support Policies' by Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, the forum featured high-quality lectures from opinion leaders across various fields, including Han Ki-jung, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission; Kang Seok-hoon, President of the Korea Development Bank; actor Kim Young-ok; Kim Young-woo, Director of the National Cancer Center Research Institute; cultural psychologist Kim Jung-woon; Kim Kwang-seok, Professor of Economics at Hanyang University; and Shin Ui-jin, Professor at Yonsei University College of Medicine, earning high praise from attendees.

During the forum, Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of Kbiz, held a press conference urging the political sphere to abolish killer regulations and to boost the vitality and innovative growth of SMEs. Chairman Kim emphasized the need for active legislative support from the National Assembly on issues such as flexible working hours, improvement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, revitalization of business succession, and reform of the foreign worker system.

Chairman Kim stated, “I hope this Leaders Forum provided small and medium business owners struggling in difficult economic conditions with an opportunity to find new growth engines to overcome the crisis,” and added, “We will invite SME owners again next year with an even more substantial program.”

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