"Let's Protect Small Businesses Against the Tyranny of Giant Delivery Apps"

Gwangju City Urges Support for Public Delivery App Activation at National Assembly
Mayor Kang Meets Budget Committee Chair to Propose National Funding and Legislation

Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung is holding a press conference with Assemblyman Jeong Jin-wook on the morning of the 29th at the National Assembly Communication Office in Seoul regarding support for the activation of public delivery apps.
[Photo by Gwangju City]

Gwangju City has taken steps to protect local small business owners against the exploitative brokerage fees of some private delivery platforms such as Baedal Minjok.

On the 29th, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung held a briefing at the National Assembly Communication Office with Jeong Jin-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Dongnam-gap), urging national government funding to promote fairness in online platforms and the activation of public delivery apps.

Mayor Kang proposed legislation to regulate brokerage fees by limiting delivery app commissions to within 5%, as well as a plan to allocate government support budgets for small business owners to public delivery apps.

Mayor Kang stated, “The prolonged high interest rates and inflation have increased the management burden on approximately 180,000 small business owners in Gwangju. The brokerage fees of up to 10% charged by private delivery apps are squeezing small business owners,” and pointed out, “Some private delivery apps monopolize the market and shift the fee burden onto small business owners.”

He continued, “Gwangju operates a public delivery app with a low commission rate of 2%. Although the public delivery app has grown to hold a 17% share of the local market, its position is now precarious due to aggressive marketing by private delivery apps. Local merchant organizations are making multifaceted efforts, but they have yet to overcome the price competitiveness barrier posed by private delivery apps.”

Mayor Kang emphasized, “Now is the time for the central government and the National Assembly to step in. We must no longer overlook the difficulties faced by small business owners. The National Assembly should enact legislation to limit delivery app brokerage fees to within 5% and improve related systems, while the government should allocate part of the small business support budget to activate public delivery apps.”

Before the briefing, Mayor Kang met with Park Jeong, Chair of the National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee, to propose legislation focused on capping brokerage fees and securing national funding for public delivery apps. In particular, he delivered a petition signed by 100,024 local small business owners to the National Assembly. Mayor Kang plans to actively protect small business owners by also submitting the petition to the central government in the future.

Recently, Gwangju City appointed active YouTubers promoting the activation of public delivery apps as ambassadors. Following An Jin-geol, Director of the Minsheng Economy Research Institute, and Choi Jin-bong, Professor at Sungkonghoe University, analyst Lee Kwang-su, economic commentator Park Si-dong, and Assemblyman Jeong Jin-wook were appointed, actively working to protect small business owners.

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