Lee So-young delivers inaugural address as minister of SMEs and Startups

'Growth' cited 11 times, 'AI' 6 times; tackling polarization takes center stage

Past ministers focused on coexistence, recovery, global competitiveness

Lee signals intent to expand ministry's role into finance, labor and retail platforms

Lee So-young delivers her inaugural address at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' inauguration ceremony held at Government Complex Sejong on Monday. [Yonhap]
Lee So-young delivers her inaugural address at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' inauguration ceremony held at Government Complex Sejong on Monday. [Yonhap]

"Growth" — 11 times. "AI" or "artificial intelligence" — 6 times. "Regulation" — 5 times. "Polarization" — 4 times.

The defining keyword of Lee So-young's inaugural address as Minister of SMEs and Startups was "growth." Speaking at Government Complex Sejong on Monday, Lee used the word 11 times — in phrases ranging from "fruits of growth" and "growth momentum" to "real growth" and "growth plate" — weaving it through her remarks from start to finish. She identified polarization as the most pressing problem facing the Korean economy and presented AI adoption and regulatory reform as the primary tools for making small and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners the drivers of that growth.

"Growth" appeared from the opening lines of her address to the very end. Diagnosing the state of the economy, Lee said the fruits of growth are concentrated among a few, and the warmth of that prosperity has not reached the workplaces where most Koreans earn their living. In laying out her policy direction, she used a string of growth-related expressions — "a great wave of growth," "growth momentum," "real growth" and "growth plate."

Alongside growth, polarization was the other central concern running through the address. Lee framed her very first theme as "the role of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in an era of polarization and AI transformation." Pointing to the widening gaps between large conglomerates and small businesses, between the Greater Seoul area and the regions, and between giant platforms and neighborhood commerce, she said resolving polarization is the ministry's core mission.

She particularly outlined a plan to channel the growth effects of large-scale investment by conglomerates and national strategic industries down to small and medium-sized enterprises. Citing the hundreds of trillions of won in operating profit generated by major conglomerates and state strategic sectors, Lee said the historic growth momentum and major national projects must create new opportunities not just for employees of a handful of large companies, but for all Koreans.

Compared with her predecessors at the ministry, Lee's address stands out for placing growth at the center while linking it explicitly to AI, regulatory reform and the reduction of polarization. Past ministers also led with messages that reflected the economic conditions and policy challenges of their time.

Hong Jong-hak, the ministry's inaugural minister in 2017, cast himself as a "guardian angel" and "salesman" for small and venture businesses and small business owners, emphasizing the need to overcome low growth and polarization and build an economy centered on small businesses. Former minister Park Young-sun, who took office in 2019, put "coexistence and mutual prosperity" at the heart of her policy philosophy and called for restructuring the economy around small businesses.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, former minister Kwon Chil-seung, who took office in 2021, underscored crisis recovery for small businesses and self-employed operators. Former minister Lee Young, who followed in 2022 after the pandemic, identified the "complete recovery" of small business owners and the self-employed as the most urgent task. By the time former minister Oh Young-joo took office in 2024, strengthening the global competitiveness of small businesses and startups had emerged as the central theme.

Her immediate predecessor, Prime Minister Han Seong-sook, also led with a call for the "real growth" of small and venture businesses through digital tools and AI. Lee's address echoes that emphasis on growth and AI. What sets her apart, however, is her explicit focus on spreading the fruits of growth to small businesses and self-employed operators to ease polarization — and her commitment to aggressive regulatory reform as the means to get there.

Regulatory reform also featured prominently. The word "regulation" appeared five times in the address. Even before taking office, Lee had declared her intention to be a "minister of regulatory reform," saying that achieving real growth for South Korea requires clearing away the unreasonable regulations pressing down on businesses' growth plates.

Lee also signaled that the ministry would not confine itself to its traditional remit. She said the ministry would speak up first on any issue affecting the lives of small businesses and self-employed operators — including finance, labor, retail and platform policy. She also outlined plans for the ministry to play a role in reviving the risk-capital function of capital markets.

"Responsibility" appeared seven times in the address. Lee said she would be a minister who puts responsibility before authority, and pledged to stand at the front whenever the ministry faces friction with other government bodies or sharp conflicts of interest. She also told ministry staff that if problems arise from working proactively, she — not they — would bear the responsibility.

For the ministry's organizational direction as it approaches its 10th anniversary next year, Lee proposed running it like "a startup within government" — encouraging open debate regardless of rank and cutting unnecessary reporting requirements and formalities.


boo@heraldcorp.com