Following the appointment of former Minister Han Seong-sook as Prime Minister, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has been without a leader for over a month and will begin its work report early this month.
According to political sources on August 1, the appointment of a new minister is expected to be clarified shortly after the Democratic Party's convention on the 17th. The prolonged vacancy in the ministerial position, coupled with the timing of the convention, has made it inevitable that appointments for heads of affiliated organizations will also be stalled for the time being.
As a result, this month's work report is anticipated to serve as a gauge for assessing the crisis management capabilities and policy execution of its affiliated organizations.
The most pressing issue is expected to be the measures to assist small partner companies affected by Homeplus's financial difficulties and delayed payments.
Last month, the government announced an emergency liquidity support package totaling 440 billion won for small businesses and partner companies, including those that primarily deal with Homeplus. This large-scale support includes 90 billion won in emergency management stabilization funds through the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and the Small Enterprise and Market Service, as well as 350 billion won in special guarantees from the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation. Notably, the support limit for small businesses has been significantly increased from 70 million won to 100 million won, with interest rates reduced by 0.5 percentage points.
Therefore, this work report will focus on verifying the 'on-site delivery rate' to ensure that the funds are being supplied in a timely manner to partner companies facing bankruptcy, particularly through the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and the Small Enterprise and Market Service.
The handling of key departmental projects and the implementation of livelihood issues will also be important topics of discussion.
Recent incidents involving the 'Everyone's Startup' program, including the leak of personal information of first-term participants, will require thorough recovery measures and enhanced security protocols, as well as plans to normalize the delayed recruitment process for the second term. Currently, the Korea Startup Promotion Agency is managing security checks related to the data breach and operating a support center for affected individuals.
The Everyone's Startup project received applications from over 63,000 individuals, marking the largest scale in government public offerings, but the personal information leak has overshadowed its success.
The Small Enterprise and Market Service is expected to propose measures to alleviate the debt repayment burden on small businesses struggling with high inflation and interest rates, as well as strategies to accelerate the digital transformation of traditional markets and small businesses hindered by an aging population. Plans to diversify sales channels both online and offline to reduce dependence on large distribution networks are also likely to be discussed.
With the appointment of the next minister delayed until after the Democratic Party's convention, the domino effect on appointments for heads of affiliated organizations has also come to a standstill. The term of Lee Tae-sik, head of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, has already ended, and the terms of Kang Seok-jin, chairman of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, and Kim Young-shin, head of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, are set to expire this month. However, it is expected to be difficult to appoint successors before the new minister takes office.
An official from an affiliated organization stated, 'The improvement measures for the Everyone's Startup data leak and the disbursement of emergency management stabilization funds for Homeplus are expected to be key issues in this work report,' adding, 'Since heads of affiliated organizations will also attend the work report, we will ensure thorough preparation.'
* This article has been translated by AI.
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