Minister Hong Jong-haak Listens to the Difficulties of Small Merchants
- Division
- Micro-Enterprise Policy Division
- Date
- 2018.12.20
- Writer
- Deputy Director InSeok Yu
- File
- Headline
- Minister Hong listened to the voices of small merchants and discussed ways to solve problems. The minister pledged to strengthen communication with small business owners to come up with policies that reflect their opinions.
On December 4 (Tuesday), the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS; Minister Hong Jong-haak) held a meeting with the group of presidents from the Federation of Micro Enterprise, where he listened to the recent operational difficulties of small merchants and discussed policy directions.
This meeting comes at the request of small businesses as part of follow-up measures after the “Korea Micro Enterprises Contest” that was held on November 12. The main discussions included “recent issues of microenterprises and suggestions to solve problems,“ “Zero Pay dissemination,“ and “damage from fire at KT’s Ahyeon branch.” Minister Hong Jong-haak listened to small merchants’ operational difficulties and vowed to reflect their voices in countermeasures.
In an opening statement, Minister Hong reiterated, “The Moon Jae-in administration is the government for microenterprises and small and medium companies.” “Since its launch, the Moon Jae-in administration has held over 100 sessions of meetings and on-site visits to listen to opinions, based on which it announced nine policies to support small merchants and traditional markets, as well as 165 policy tasks,” said the minister. In particular, he mentioned a “special act on appropriate businesses for livelihood-related microenterprises (to be enforced on December 13, 2018),” ”significant reduction of card transaction fees (November 26, 2018),” ”declaration of Zero Pay Brand Identity (BI) (December 3, 2018),” and ”voluntary rules set by convenient stores (December 3, 2018).” He called these developments encouraging messages to small merchants and attributed these outcomes to society’s understanding of their difficulties.
Minister Hong asked participants to suggest good ideas to him and ministry officials, adding that “any suggestions through social media are also welcomed.” In addition, the minister vowed that he would enhance communication with merchants to establish policies that reflect their voices.
This meeting comes at the request of small businesses as part of follow-up measures after the “Korea Micro Enterprises Contest” that was held on November 12. The main discussions included “recent issues of microenterprises and suggestions to solve problems,“ “Zero Pay dissemination,“ and “damage from fire at KT’s Ahyeon branch.” Minister Hong Jong-haak listened to small merchants’ operational difficulties and vowed to reflect their voices in countermeasures.
In an opening statement, Minister Hong reiterated, “The Moon Jae-in administration is the government for microenterprises and small and medium companies.” “Since its launch, the Moon Jae-in administration has held over 100 sessions of meetings and on-site visits to listen to opinions, based on which it announced nine policies to support small merchants and traditional markets, as well as 165 policy tasks,” said the minister. In particular, he mentioned a “special act on appropriate businesses for livelihood-related microenterprises (to be enforced on December 13, 2018),” ”significant reduction of card transaction fees (November 26, 2018),” ”declaration of Zero Pay Brand Identity (BI) (December 3, 2018),” and ”voluntary rules set by convenient stores (December 3, 2018).” He called these developments encouraging messages to small merchants and attributed these outcomes to society’s understanding of their difficulties.
Minister Hong asked participants to suggest good ideas to him and ministry officials, adding that “any suggestions through social media are also welcomed.” In addition, the minister vowed that he would enhance communication with merchants to establish policies that reflect their voices.