Junggi Joonganghoe "We Must Overcome Difficulties with Patience and Tolerance"... 2025 New Year's Address

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) diagnosed this year as an "Era of Uncertainty" in its 2025 New Year's address, stating on the 29th that it will "focus policy capabilities on restoring the livelihood economy and improving the structural problems of the Korean economy."

Kbiz said, "Despite the crisis last year, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) created new opportunities through bold challenges," citing major achievements such as ▲securing a foothold for SMEs to enter overseas markets ▲raising public awareness on issues related to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act ▲designating 610 competitive products among SMEs ▲promoting legislation on key SME policy tasks ▲and easing on-site regulations for SMEs.

It added, "This year, amid continued uncertainty in the Korean economy, concerns are growing that the growth engine of manufacturing powerhouse Korea may stall due to overlapping challenges such as low birthrate, aging population, declining productivity, and the spread of economic nationalism," emphasizing that it will do its best to achieve ▲restoration of the livelihood economy ▲improvement of structural problems in the Korean economy such as excessive gaps between large and small-medium enterprises and the decrease in the working-age population ▲support for SME globalization ▲and easing on-site regulations for SMEs and small business owners.

Finally, it noted, "The SME sector chose the four-character idiom Innae Oeyang (忍耐外揚), meaning 'to overcome difficulties with patience,' as a forecast for this year," urging that "no matter how great the hardships in reality, if the strength and wisdom of SMEs are united, a new path to growth can be found."

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