Ruling Party Meets SMEs Hit Hard by Middle East Crisis, Listens to Difficulties (Comprehensive)

"Many Requests for Improvements to the Export Voucher System"

Jeong Cheongrae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, met with small and medium-sized business owners who have been severely affected by the Middle East crisis on the 24th and announced, "We will arrange an emergency supplementary budget worth 25 trillion won."

On this morning, Jeong hosted a meeting with SMEs at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, to discuss responses to the Middle East situation. He said, "We will pass the supplementary budget at the fastest pace in history," adding, "Since our country lives on exports, we have an economy that is highly dependent on external factors. When incidents like the Middle East crisis occur, business owners feel extremely anxious. I believe we must have sufficient countermeasures in place to minimize our losses."

He continued, "Amid the current situation where everything is becoming more difficult—exchange rates, international oil prices, exports and imports—those who suffer the most are people without power or money and those with weak economic foundations. The damage is felt most acutely by them first."

Jeong Cheongrae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering a greeting at a meeting for small and medium-sized enterprises responding to the Middle East situation held on the 24th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Due to instability caused by the Middle East crisis, disruptions in energy supply, surging logistics and raw material costs, and transportation and supply chain interruptions are occurring one after another, and the impact is spreading across the entire domestic industrial sector. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises, whose risk management capabilities are relatively weak, are suffering even greater damage.

Kim Kimoon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "Export-oriented SMEs are suffering enormous losses as air and sea shipments are suspended due to the Middle East crisis, resulting in export cancellations and soaring logistics costs. In addition, the suspension of naphtha imports and a significant reduction in operating rates by large domestic petrochemical companies have put SMEs in the plastics industry on the brink of a 'shutdown' due to raw material shortages."

At the meeting, SME representatives requested measures to address rising logistics and raw material costs. Kang Junghyun, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party, told reporters after the meeting, "There were many requests to improve the export voucher system. Exporters are struggling to receive payments, so they asked for fiscal support until the situation stabilizes. Requests were also made to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to ensure stability in the settlement of emergency logistics vouchers specialized for the Middle East, and to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to relax the criteria for fast-track selection of emergency support vouchers."

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