[2025 Audit] Minister Hansung-sook of SMEs and Startups: "We Will Promote the Recovery and Growth of Small Business Owners"

First National Assembly Audit for Minister Hansung-sook's Ministry of SMEs and Startups
Key Issue: Effectiveness of Support for Small Business Owners

The main issue at this year's National Assembly audit of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is the effectiveness of policies supporting small business owners. Less than three months have passed since Minister Hansung-sook took office, and during this period, the ministry has focused much of its policy efforts on supporting small business owners, who have faced difficulties due to the state of emergency and impeachment crisis. Issues frequently raised at the ministry's audits, such as the distribution of Onnuri gift certificates and the coexistence between platforms and tenant businesses, are also closely related to improving the management environment for small business owners.

At the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee audit of the ministry on October 14, Minister Han stated, "We will promote the recovery and growth of small business owners," adding, "To strengthen the management safety net, we will provide management stabilization vouchers and, in cooperation with the Financial Services Commission and other relevant ministries, pursue measures to reduce the financial burden tailored for small business owners." Since taking office, Minister Han has consistently emphasized strengthening the social safety net and digital transformation for small business owners as top policy priorities. The establishment of a dedicated second vice minister for small business owners is also in line with this direction. Of the ministry's budget for next year, 5.5279 trillion won out of a total of 16.8449 trillion won will be allocated to overcoming crises and supporting the growth of small business owners.

Hansung-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups

The three major support projects the ministry has implemented this year to ease the management burden on small business owners are delivery fee support, burden reduction credits, and the Biz Plus Card. In addition, the effectiveness of reimbursement programs such as the Win-Win Payback will be addressed at this audit. Minister Han stated, "To reduce the management burden and financial costs for small business owners, we are providing a total of 1.5 trillion won in burden reduction credits that can be used for fixed costs such as utility bills, and we have prepared incentive plans to support small business owners who faithfully repay policy finance loans and guarantees."

The Onnuri gift certificate will also be discussed at this year's audit. According to data released by the office of Lee Jongbae of the People Power Party, the number of cases of illegal distribution of Onnuri gift certificates has increased eightfold over the past five years. In addition to the issue of illegal distribution, there are concerns about side effects resulting from the relaxation of the criteria for affiliated business types. According to data received by Assemblyman Kim Won-i of the Democratic Party from the ministry, from September last year, when the criteria were relaxed, to August this year, there were 3,654 new affiliated businesses and a total transaction amount of 45.77 billion won. Of this, payments by hospitals and clinics accounted for 76% of the total, which is seen as inconsistent with the original purpose of Onnuri gift certificates, which is to revitalize traditional markets.

Issues between platforms and small business owners who operate within them are also major points of contention at this audit. The National Assembly has summoned Park Daejoon, CEO of Coupang, as a witness to examine the company's settlement methods, commission deduction structure, advertising, and overall operations. Kim Beomseok, CEO of Woowa Brothers, will be questioned about unfair operations of delivery apps and the shifting of costs to small business owners. Minister Han stated, "We will promote win-win cooperation between online platforms and small business owners, and to ensure stable payments to subcontracted small and medium-sized enterprises, we will expand win-win payments starting with public institutions."

Regarding issues facing small and medium-sized enterprises, questions are expected about tariffs imposed by the United States. Minister Han said, "We are preparing and implementing support measures for SMEs in response to the implementation of reciprocal tariffs by the United States," adding, "We are operating three major support programs for export SMEs-field support, financing, and logistics-and are working to diversify export destinations and strengthen the export competitiveness of SMEs."

The issue of technology theft from SMEs will also be raised. The ministry is taking active measures to minimize damage to SMEs whose technology has been stolen, such as introducing a Korean-style discovery system (evidence disclosure system). Minister Han stated, "We will implement effective measures to protect SMEs from technology theft, such as introducing a Korean-style evidence disclosure system and making damage compensation amounts more realistic." Lawmakers from the ruling party are also determined to examine the damage to SMEs and startups resulting from the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's cuts to research and development (R&D) budgets.

The issue of uncollected policy funds is also expected to be addressed. According to data submitted to Assemblyman Heo Sungmoo of the Democratic Party by the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, uncollected policy funds for SMEs have reached nearly 3 trillion won from 2020 to last year. The amount of uncollected policy funds for small business owners has also increased 11.8 times in three years. The National Assembly audit of the ministry's affiliated organizations responsible for executing policy funds, such as the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the Agency for Traditional Market Administration, and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, is scheduled for October 23. The comprehensive audit will follow on October 29.

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