Park Young-sun, First Schedule After Declaring Mayoral Candidacy: 'Smart Supermarket'... Focus on "Seoul's Next 100 Years"

"Compensate Business Losses for Places That Suffered Revenue Decline Due to Compliance with COVID-19 Measures"
"Data-Driven Government Policies Will Also Resonate with the Public"

Ruling Party Candidate Highlights Differences from Woo Sang-ho
"From Analog to Digital, an Era of Great Transformation... How to Set the 100-Year Future Coordinates for Seoul" Focus

Policy Announcements in Weekly Citizen Report Meetings

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Park Young-sun, former Minister of SMEs and Startups, who officially announced her candidacy for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, chose the 'Smart Supermarket No. 1' Nadulgage franchise as her first destination.

On the 25th, former Minister Park visited the 'Smart Supermarket' located in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, together with Lee Soo-jin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing the district. This place is the first supermarket promoted as a pilot project for future neighborhood supermarkets during her tenure as minister. The Smart Supermarket is a hybrid unmanned store operated with staff during the day and unmanned at night. Former Minister Park, who was nicknamed the 'apostle of smartization' during her tenure due to her focus on smartizing small and medium enterprises and small businesses, has emphasized securing future national competitiveness through the digitalization of SMEs, ventures, and small business owners.

Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun (right in the photo), who officially announced her candidacy for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, chose the 'Smart Supermarket No. 1' Nadul Store branch as her first destination. (Photo by Office of Former Minister Park Young-sun)

The Smart Supermarket, implemented to ensure that local commercial districts do not fall behind the rapidly changing distribution environment and to enable digital management by applying smart technology and equipment, holds special significance for former Minister Park, who is running for Seoul mayor.

Former Minister Park recalled, "When we first introduced the Smart Supermarket and unmanned stores, small business owners found it difficult and complicated, so the response was not strong," adding, "Still, I came to express my gratitude to the No. 1 store that responded to the idea that 'digitalization of small business owners is the future'." She explained that she chose this as her first destination to additionally check if there were any points to improve as the store marked its third month since opening in October last year.

In particular, as former Minister Park emphasizes the '100-year plan for the future of Seoul as a global capital' in her campaign for Seoul mayor, the Smart Supermarket is meaningful as it can serve as the foundation for this vision.

There is speculation that former Minister Park’s 'No. 1 pledge,' to be announced officially at the Small and Medium Business Central Hall in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 26th, may focus on small business owners, but she stated, "I will present overall pledges (on the day)."

Regarding the ongoing discussion about compensation for business losses suffered by self-employed individuals due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), she strongly stated, "Those whose sales have dropped due to responding to the government's COVID policies should be compensated for their losses."

Former Minister Park mentioned, "During my tenure as minister, small business sales were tracked almost daily, and by looking at the weekly averages, we could see which regions' sales rose or fell during that week through data," adding, "Last year, due to the COVID pandemic, sales dropped by nearly 50%, leading to the decision to provide universal disaster relief funds to all citizens, and since then, sales have recovered up to 85%."

She continued, "All data regarding loss compensation is available," and said, "Those whose sales have fallen compared to 2019, and those whose sales dropped because the government imposed restrictions and they complied, should be compensated for their losses." She added that the most important factors here are business registration and accurate classification of business types.

Former Minister Park said, "Sometimes businesses are registered under incorrect categories, so careful inspection is necessary," and added, "If the government implements policies based on data, the public will empathize."

As the competition with Woo Sang-ho, a Democratic Party member, solidifies, attention is also focused on policy differentiation.

When asked about her unique strengths that differentiate her from Woo, former Minister Park said, "We are now in a 'great transformation era' moving from the analog age to the digital age," emphasizing, "The speed of urban development and whether Seoul can become a 'leading city' that guides the world as a global city depends on how we set the 100-year future coordinates of Seoul."

She added, "I will reveal my policy ideas regarding these aspects."

Former Minister Park will officially announce her candidacy for Seoul mayor through a 'citizen report meeting.' Regarding this somewhat unfamiliar format, she explained, "About 100 citizens will participate online to receive a report on the future of Seoul and engage in Q&A, and the opinions gathered will be reflected in policies." She plans to announce policies weekly through such citizen report meetings.

When asked about her stance on unification with the Open Democratic Party if she wins the primary, she replied, "I have not thought that far yet."