Lee So-young Begins First Field Visit as Minister of SMEs and Startups at Traditional Market... "Onnuri Gift Certificate Improvements"

[Financial News] Newly appointed Minister of SMEs and Startups Lee So-young began her official duties on her first day in office by visiting a traditional market and listening to merchants' voices. In her inaugural remarks, Lee said, 'I will find answers in the field,' signaling her intention to develop policies that small business owners can feel in practice, including a planned overhaul of the Onnuri Gift Certificate system.
 On the morning of the 23rd, Lee visited the National Merchants Federation office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Suwon Nammun Market. Suwon Nammun Market is a leading traditional market in the area, with nearby markets such as Suwon Yeongdong Market and Motgol Market joining together to form a single commercial district community.
 At the National Merchants Federation office inside Suwon Yeongdong Market, Lee held a tea meeting with executives and merchants' association leaders to discuss ways to revive the people's economy and strengthen the competitiveness of traditional markets. During the meeting, she announced plans to overhaul the Onnuri Gift Certificate system.
 Lee emphasized, "The Onnuri Gift Certificate itself needs to be used more widely in traditional markets, and greater benefits need to reach consumers to stimulate spending. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will take the lead in addressing this. We plan to announce an overhaul plan within a few days."
 She also identified the refund program for agricultural, livestock, and fishery products held ahead of Chuseok as an area for improvement. Lee said, "I know that not every market receives the refund benefits offered during each holiday. Starting with next year's Lunar New Year holiday, I will work to ensure the program is more helpful to merchants."
 Lee later visited Motgol Market, where she toured fruit shops, Korean pancake shops, butcher shops, and braised pig's feet shops before purchasing goods with paper Onnuri Gift Certificates.
 Lee stressed, "There have been various support policies for traditional markets so far. After this holiday shopping period ends, I plan to meet merchants again and reexamine the existing policies from a new perspective, one by one, to assess their effectiveness and whether they are actually helping merchants."
 The National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs, and Startups Committee adopted a report on Lee's confirmation hearing the previous day with the agreement of the ruling and opposition parties. Her official term began after President Lee Jae Myung, who was visiting the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, approved her appointment.
 Immediately after her appointment, Lee wrote on Facebook, "As the head of a ministry responsible for small and medium-sized enterprises, venture businesses, and small business owners—groups that account for most of South Korea, without exaggeration—I will find answers in the field about what I should do." She continued, "I will not pretend to know what I do not know. I will not work as if I were simply resolving complaints while trapped by the interests of particular groups. Instead, I will work based on rational judgments, using the interests of the entire public as my standard." She added, "Rather than following convention, I want to become a minister who breaks with it."
 The small and medium-sized business community welcomed Lee's appointment and called for regulatory rationalization and improvements to small business owners' cost structures.
 The Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) urged her, "Along with regulatory rationalization, please specify the role of small and medium-sized enterprises in the nation's key growth strategies and work to overcome K-shaped polarization by reforming small business owners' cost structures. As AI could seriously widen the gap between large and small and medium-sized companies, please concentrate policy capabilities on the AI transformation and digital innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises."
 The Korea Venture Business Association (KOVA) emphasized, "Please create an environment in which 'innovation is fairly rewarded' through active institutional improvements. The KOSDAQ needs to be reformed to reflect the characteristics of innovative companies, and the working-hours system needs to be improved in consideration of the characteristics and realities of venture businesses."
[email protected] Lee Joo-mi Reporter