[Reporter’s Notebook] Small Businesses Are Collapsing While the President Holds a 'Belated Discussion'

"Since COVID-19, the economy has worsened so much that sometimes it feels hard to even breathe."

On the 2nd, at the small business policy and livelihood discussion held at the Art Center Goma in Gongju, Chungnam, presided over by President Yoon Seok-yeol, a middle-aged female small business owner who makes and sells rice cakes and lotus leaf rice in Gongju attended as a panelist and appealed to President Yoon for support, saying, "It has become very difficult to make a living." During her speech, her hands and voice trembled with desperation, a scene vividly captured on the TV screen broadcasting the discussion.

At the livelihood discussion held under the theme "Small Businesses and Self-Employed Running Again, Vibrant Neighborhood Commercial Districts," President Yoon directly announced various support measures for small business owners and the self-employed. The main points included policies to reduce delivery commission fees by more than 30% for small merchants over three years, the introduction of a reservation deposit system to prevent no-shows at restaurants, and plans to nurture private commercial district planners to expand local attractions like the Yesan Market, developed by Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea.

However, small business owners watching the broadcast of the discussion expressed disappointment, saying there was nothing new in President Yoon's announcements.

This was also true regarding the delivery app commission fee reduction, which President Yoon emphasized most that day. This was a matter discussed over 12 meetings in five months by the "Delivery Platform-Merchant Win-Win Council," launched by the government in July. All media outlets gave significant coverage to each meeting. The agreement reached at the last meeting on the 14th of last month to reduce commissions by at least 2% was treated as one of the most important economic news stories by all media, including Asia Economy. The president’s announcement was a repetition of this content.

The president’s announcement on no-show prevention measures was also something the government had already announced in 2018. At that time, the government legislated that a reservation deposit of up to 10% of the usage amount would be paid as a penalty for reservation cancellations. The only new point at this discussion was the plan to revise related laws to reflect industry-specific characteristics by the first half of next year. There is an analysis that damages to small business owners caused by no-shows have continued to increase, recently reaching 4.5 trillion won annually. How many restaurant owners can be reassured by an announcement that intends to solve six years of damage with already existing policies?

Economic indicators for small business owners and the self-employed are worsening daily, recording the worst ever. As of the first half of this year, overdue loans for the self-employed reached 2.6 trillion won, the highest ever. The delinquency rate was also at its highest level in nine years and three months.

The president should show a proactive direction to solve these problems. Only then can the responsible ministries establish systematic policies. However, such direction was not visible at this livelihood discussion. It is hoped that President Yoon will comprehensively review the existing small business policies and present the government with a new direction that gives hope to them.