Lee So-young formally took office as Minister of SMEs and Startups on the 22nd after President Lee Jae-myung, who is in the United States to attend the U.N. General Assembly, approved her appointment. Earlier that day, the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee adopted the report on her confirmation hearing with bipartisan agreement.
Shortly after the appointment, the minister said on social media that she would "find answers in the field and be a minister who breaks with inertia rather than follows it."
"After being named as a candidate for the post, I gave a lot of thought to why I had been nominated as Minister of SMEs and Startups and what the public would expect of me," she said. "As the head of a ministry responsible for small and medium-sized enterprises, venture firms and small business owners — which, without exaggeration, make up most of South Korea — I will find answers in the field on what needs to be done." She added, "I will not pretend to know what I do not know, and I will listen diligently to voices from the field."
She also pledged not to favor particular interests. "I will not work as though resolving individual grievances while confined to specific interests," the minister said. "I will make reasonable judgments with the benefit of the entire public as my standard."
The minister will make her first policy-related site visit since taking office on the 23rd, traveling to the Yeongdong and Motgol markets in Suwon. She plans to hold a tea meeting with the Korea Federation of Merchants Associations and to shop at the traditional markets while listening to merchants. Her official inauguration ceremony will be held on the 28th at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups building in Sejong.
