President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that next year’s industrial policy should focus on ensuring “win-win” development between large and small firms.
Yoon made the remark during a joint policy briefing by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the second in a series of government briefings received by the president around the start of a new year.

“The most important thing in our industrial policy next year is basically the win-win development of large corporations and small- and medium-sized firms,” he said during the meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae. “I would like the industry ministry and the SMEs ministry to strengthen their work collaboration next year.”
Yoon also emphasized the importance of the government and the private sector working together as one at a time when high value added industries rely heavily on state-of-the-art technology.
“More than any time in the past, it’s extremely difficult for our businesses to expand overseas or increase exports, which is important to overcoming this economic crisis, unless the government and the private sector run together as one entity,” he said.
“It’s not easy to procure the raw materials that are essential for our industries. That is why I believe we can respond to the situation we are facing only when the government and the private sector become one entity across all sectors, abandon bureaucratic thinking and the government responds in a way that places businesses and the people at the center,” he added.
Yoon reminded the participants that his administration aims to overcome the economic crisis by pursuing two tracks — increasing exports and promoting startups.
He instructed the SMEs ministry to fully engage in fostering startups, as new technologies are bound to emerge from such companies, which in turn will lead to new investments and markets.
The meeting was attended by some 150 people, including the respective ministers, ministry officials, members of the ruling People Power Party, leaders of trade associations and chiefs of public utility corporations.

Source: Yonhap News Agency