Support for Small Business Recovery and Strengthening Social Safety Nets... Expert TF Kickoff

Next Year's Budget for Restart Support Project to Be Significantly Expanded
Participation of Experts and Relevant Government Policy Officials

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it has launched a task force (TF) to prepare support measures for the recovery of small business owners and self-employed individuals, as well as to strengthen the social safety net for next year, holding a kickoff meeting on the 14th.

A rental notice is posted at a store in Insadong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Considering the difficult business conditions faced by small business owners and self-employed individuals due to accumulated cost burdens from high interest rates and delayed domestic demand recovery, the government plans to significantly expand the budget for recovery support projects next year. According to the National Tax Service, the number of individual business closures was 819,000 in 2021, 800,000 in 2022, and 911,000 last year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups empathized with the recognition that structural responses are necessary to reduce revolving-door startups and firmly support definite recovery, and thus launched the “Expert TF for Recovery Support and Social Safety Net Strengthening for Closed Small Business Owners,” reflecting expert opinions from various fields.

The TF includes experts in reemployment, re-challenge, and social safety net fields, as well as policy officials from related government departments. They plan to discuss and specify directions for expanding recovery support and the social safety net for small business owners by next month. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will incorporate the TF’s discussion results into next year’s support projects and implement them.

Won Young-jun, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, “We formed the TF to enhance the efficiency of support policies for closed small business owners and minimize blind spots, and the public and private sectors will collaborate to consider next year’s policy directions. We will actively reflect expert opinions and strive to prepare concrete support measures that are truly needed in the field of business closures.”