Kim Bong-jin, Lee Seung-gun, Lee Seung-jae... What Did Unicorn Founders Unite to Say?

Kim Bong-jin, Chairman of Woowa Brothers; Lee Seung-geon, CEO of Viva Republica (Toss); Lee Su-jin, General CEO of Yanolja; Lee Seung-jae, CEO of Bucketplace (Ohouse); Park Jae-wook, CEO of Socar... These are the founders of companies that have become unicorns in South Korea. These representatives of the Korean startup ecosystem recently raised a unified voice. "Protect it"?the subject being non-face-to-face medical consultations. Temporarily permitted due to COVID-19, non-face-to-face medical consultations are now at risk of being discontinued. The call to continue non-face-to-face medical consultations is not only coming from founders. The public has also joined in support. More than 100,000 people participated within a week of the petition campaign's launch.

The Korea Startup Forum (hereafter Kospo) announced that as of midnight on the 24th, 112,564 people have participated in the nationwide petition campaign to sustain non-face-to-face medical consultation services. The petition began at 3 p.m. on the 14th, and within an hour, over 7,000 people had joined. By 7 p.m. on the 20th, the sixth day, it surpassed 100,000 participants. Non-face-to-face medical consultations were temporarily allowed in February 2020 when the COVID-19 crisis level was raised to 'serious' under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. However, if the level is lowered to 'caution,' the service will be discontinued. This point is likely to come next month. About 30 related startups, including Dr. Now and Goodoc, which have grown based on non-face-to-face medical consultations, could simultaneously face a crisis of collapse.

Jaewook Park, CEO of Socar

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Within the startup ecosystem, starting with Park Jae-wook, CEO of Socar and chairman of Kospo, founders have continued to express the opinion that non-face-to-face medical consultations must be protected. This is called the 'Protect It Challenge.' Park named Kim Bong-jin, Chairman of Woowa Brothers; Ahn Sung-woo, CEO of Zigbang; and Choi Sung-jin, CEO of Kospo as the next participants. Following them were Lee Seung-geon, CEO of Toss; Lee Seung-jae, CEO of Ohouse; Lee Su-jin, CEO of Yanolja; Min Geum-chae, CEO of Jiguin Company; Lee Jung-soo, CEO of Flitto; Choi Hyuk-jae, CEO of Spoon Radio; Lee Dong-geon, CEO of MyRealTrip; Kim Young-ho, CEO of Malang Studio; Lee Yong-jae, CEO of Qanda; Kim Jong-yoon, CEO of Yanolja Cloud; Kim Min-ji, CEO of V-Dream; Song Jae-joon, CEO of Com2uS; Park Hyun-ho, CEO of Kmong; Jang Ji-ho, CEO of Dr. Now; and Kwon Do-gyun, CEO of Primer, among others.

Park Jae-wook, CEO of Socar, said, "If innovative companies that have done their best to protect the health of the people during the COVID-19 crisis cannot survive simply because the infection situation has ended, it is questionable whether we can prepare for another infectious disease crisis in the future." Lee Seung-jae, CEO of Ohouse, said, "The non-face-to-face medical consultation method can continue to help us. Of course, there will be additional issues to resolve with new changes, but I believe it is important to take one step at a time toward providing better value to more people." Lee Seung-geon, CEO of Toss, added, "From my past experience as a medical professional and working as a public health doctor, I have always thought about the necessity of non-face-to-face medical consultations. I especially believe it is an essential system for the elderly and mobility-impaired, as well as dual-income couples raising children."

Currently, the political sphere is also pushing for the institutionalization of non-face-to-face medical consultations. However, most proposals focus on follow-up visits, excluding initial consultations. The industry believes that lowering the barrier to accessing medical institutions and enabling anyone to receive immediate treatment without restrictions is the essence of non-face-to-face medical consultations. Therefore, allowing initial patients to use non-face-to-face consultations is considered the most important. On the 21st, Kospo, along with the Remote Medical Industry Council and others, visited the Presidential Office and delivered a petition with more than 100,000 signatures agreeing to institutionalize non-face-to-face medical consultations without distinguishing between initial and follow-up visits, allowing usage as it is now.

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