Small Business Support Measures to be Checked 'On Site'... Joint Inspection by Ministry of SMEs, Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Financial Services Commission

Minister of SMEs and Startups, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, and Financial Services Commission Chairman Visit Site
Check Implementation Status of Support Policies for Small Business Owners and Self-Employed

The Minister of SMEs and Startups, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy, and the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission jointly conducted an on-site inspection of support measures for small business owners.

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance, attended the Economic Ministers' Meeting and the 1st Investment Activation Ministers' Meeting held on the 2nd at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul, and spoke about customized financial support measures for low-income self-employed individuals. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that Minister Oh Young-joo, along with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok and Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byung-hwan, visited the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Small Enterprise and Market Service on the 4th to check the implementation status of support policies for small business owners and self-employed individuals.

Since July, the government has been promoting various measures to support small business owners and the self-employed facing difficulties, starting with the ‘Comprehensive Measures for Small Business Owners and the Self-Employed,’ followed by the ‘Response Plan for the Wemakeprice and TMON Incident,’ the ‘Chuseok Livelihood Stabilization Measures,’ the ‘Recent Domestic Economy Inspection and Response Directions,’ and the ‘Expansion Plan for Customized Financial Support for Vulnerable Groups including Low-Income People.’

According to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the key tasks of the small business support measures are being carried out smoothly on the ground. To alleviate the biggest recent difficulty for small business owners?the burden of debt?they have prepared a financial support “triple set” consisting of regional credit guarantee conversion, low-interest refinancing loans, and policy fund repayment extensions. This financial support triple set has been actively implemented since last month, and the scale of support is expected to increase rapidly going forward.

Additionally, the New Start Fund has been significantly improved to help small business owners break free from the cycle of debt and restart through employment or other means. The support target for the New Start Fund has been expanded, and a system has been introduced that grants an additional principal reduction of up to 10 percentage points for small business owners with a will to rehabilitate, linked to employment and re-startup processes. Since the expansion of the New Start Fund, 2,823 people have applied by the 30th of last month, representing a 23% increase compared to the previous average on a daily basis.

At the same time, opinions from the field are being actively collected and supplemented through dedicated task forces from related ministries and on-site inspections. As a result, measures such as expanding the target for electricity bill support (200,000 KRW), adding call center reception to the existing online application, including micro small business owners (annual sales under 300 million KRW) in the policy low-income financial repayment deferral target, extending the repayment period of the Credit Guarantee Fund’s ‘Small Business Entrusted Guarantee’ introduced during the COVID-19 period by up to five years, and reviewing preferential interest rate housing pension products for self-employed individuals planning to close their businesses have been prepared.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi ordered that the voices from the field be thoroughly considered and supplemented regarding key tasks such as electricity bill support, the financial support triple set, and the New Start Fund. He particularly emphasized that bold debt restructuring through the New Start Fund and linking it with employment and re-startup processes is a representative task that effectively connects support policies across ministries, urging close cooperation among related ministries. Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated, “To alleviate the burden on small business owners related to delivery platforms, we will ensure that a reasonable win-win plan is derived within this month through the delivery platform-tenant mutual growth council.”

Minister Oh said, “We established a one-stop platform on July 29 where small business owners can comfortably receive consultations on various topics both online and offline nationwide, completing about 168,000 consultations by the 27th of last month. Starting next year, we plan to expand the scope of information provided by SmallBusiness24 to include projects from related ministries such as the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and to build a platform where any small business owner can easily receive guidance on necessary services at once by offering customized business searches and proactive notification services according to each small business owner’s conditions.”

Chairman Kim said, “We will promptly complete inter-agency electronic linkage to verify preferential conditions for insolvent and closed business owners who have completed employment and re-startup processes, thereby enhancing convenience for users.”

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