South Korean SME minister plans SME panel on national mega projects by end of October

Lee So-young (이소영), South Korea's Minister of SMEs and Startups, said on October 8 that her ministry will form a consultative body of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) linked to the government's three mega projects and run it regularly, starting at the end of October. Speaking to reporters at the Korea Federation of SMEs (중소기업중앙회) in Seoul's Yeouido, she said SMEs are too diverse for policy to be made at a desk and that the ministry needs to know what companies need to have something to bring to government meetings, Yonhap and Asia Economy reported. [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 9 ]

Lee said that after her first cabinet meeting last week she told the president that SME content was lacking in three national growth projects, the three mega projects, the seven SEED projects and the '5 poles, 3 special' growth engines, and that her ministry was not part of their governance structure, according to Yonhap. When she pointed out that her ministry was not invited to the third presidentially chaired mega-project meeting that day, the president told it to attend from that day, she said. Newsis identified the president as Lee Jae-myung. She said the president also ordered that someone representing SMEs attend, not only heads of large companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and that one SME representative will be chosen for each meeting according to the agenda. [ 4 , 6 , 7 ]

Lee also said a Ministry of Science and ICT document on the seven SEED projects named her ministry as an overall cooperating department for the first time. Yonhap quoted her as saying the document was released last week, while Newsis reported it as released last month. [ 4 , 6 , 7 ]

Her remarks followed a tea meeting that day hosted by the Korea Federation of SMEs for the minister and heads of SME organisations, held to mark her taking office and as an introductory meeting. Chosun Ilbo and Seoul Economic Daily put SME-sector attendance at 15, including federation chairman Kim Ki-mun (김기문); Newsis said 18 attended in total, among them Park Chang-sook (박창숙) of the Korea Women Entrepreneurs Association and Kim Hak-kyun (김학균) of the Korea Venture Capital Association. The organisation heads asked Lee to make concrete the regulatory reform and SME participation in large national projects she had set out at her confirmation hearing and in her inaugural speech. Kim said the gap between large companies and SMEs is growing and that SME participation in national projects is important so that they share in the effects of economic revitalisation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Lee said she plans to visit companies across the country region by region. Korea Economic Daily reported that the tour starts in the Chungcheong region on October 15-16 with visits to smart factories, a semiconductor company, a cosmetics company and traditional markets. As a nominee, Lee had visited the federation on September 4 and said national growth strategies had been drawn up around large companies, Yonhap reported. [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 7 ]