Lee So-young, nominee for SMEs minister, says, "I will make sure there is no repeat of TADA"

[Financial News] Lee So-young, nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, said she would do everything possible to push regulatory reform that does not hinder innovation in venture firms and startups, adding, "I will make sure that something like TADA never happens again in South Korea."
Meeting reporters on her way to work at the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 31st, Lee stressed, "No matter how much the government mentors and supports entrepreneurs, their ideas will be buried if they are blocked by regulations."
She was referring to an amendment to the Passenger Transport Service Act, widely known as the Anti-Tada Act, which effectively banned TADA's former rental-car-based ride-hailing model. TADA grew into an innovative mobility service, but it clashed with the existing taxi industry and suspended its core service, Tada Basic, after the law was revised in 2020.
Lee said that if she is appointed minister, she will go beyond support policies for SMEs and startups and ease unreasonable regulations with the mindset of a minister for regulatory reform.
She also expressed her intention to extend the benefits of large companies' growth to smaller firms. "Export-driven large companies are enjoying the strongest boom in history, but the warmth of that bright boom must spread to SMEs as well," she said. "I will review the situation and come up with policy solutions."
On micro enterprises, she said, "I once lived with my mother alone as a child, and we made a living by waiting on customers and taking delivery orders every day at the small restaurant she ran." She added, "I will think about how to ease the hardships faced by micro enterprises in difficult times."
In response to criticism that she lacks expertise in the SME and micro enterprise sectors, Lee pointed to her six years of legislative work and her experience as executive secretary of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts. "I am confident that I have faithfully carried out legislative activities related to the ministry's responsibilities," she said. "As executive secretary of the SCBA, I handled a wide range of budgets in depth, including recovery for small business owners, boosting consumption in neighborhood commercial districts, and AI transformation for SMEs, and helped secure substantial increases."
Asked about concerns in the local community over holding both a ministerial post and a seat in the National Assembly, she said, "While serving as minister, I will make every effort to carry out both roles properly so that I do not lose touch with the region."
[email protected] Kim Hyun-cheol Reporter