Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (hereinafter referred to as the MSS ) visited Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do on the 14th and held an on-site meeting to encourage local SMEs that are experiencing difficulties due to changes in the domestic and international environment (decreased domestic demand, increased tariffs, etc.) and to seek solutions.
This meeting was held at Daegeon Tech Co., Ltd. (CEO: Shin Ki-soo), a space and defense parts company located in Changwon National Industrial Complex, and six companies participating in the Legend 50+ in the aerospace, nuclear power, and advanced precision machinery fields that Gyeongsangnam-do is focusing on fostering as future growth engines were in attendance.
Minister Oh Young-joo stated in his opening remarks, “As global protectionism has intensified and tariff wars have intensified recently, the export threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises has increased, making the management environment more difficult.” He then said, “At times like these, it is more important than ever to enhance corporate competitiveness, so this year we have significantly expanded the scope and scale of support for the Legend 50+, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ representative regional small and medium-sized enterprise fostering model.”
In order to strengthen the fostering of leading companies that will lead the regional key industries and regional economy, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has expanded the scope of support projects for Legend 50+ from 6 to 9 this year, and also expanded the budget size from 278 billion won in 2024 to 431.7 billion won.
During the free discussion time, we shared the current issues of small and medium-sized businesses and had time to find solutions together. Daegeon Tech CEO Shin Ki-soo said, “We were able to continue developing technology and developing overseas markets through Legend 50+,” and “I would like to ask for additional institutional support so that new employees from small and medium-sized businesses can settle down in the field stably.”
In addition, Jinyoung TVX CEO Kim Jun-seop emphasized the need for government-level support, saying, “Companies with a high proportion of exports are experiencing difficulties due to exchange rate fluctuations,” and Yeongnam Metal Director Kim Byeong-cheol requested, “As the tariff war is in full swing, the government should do its best to ensure that export companies do not suffer any disadvantages.”
Regarding this, Minister Oh Young-joo said, “In order to minimize the difficulties of SMEs in a situation where external uncertainty is increasing, we are forming a ‘SME Support TF’ and closely examining the impact of strengthening protectionism. We are planning to increase the budget for SME export support by 45% from last year to 619.6 billion won, and expand the operation of the Global Business Center (GBC) to 22 locations this year.”
In addition, “As the recent intensification of the tariff war is expected to increase the export burden on small and medium-sized enterprises, the government is preparing support measures at the government level for companies that are returning to Korea due to inevitable production adjustments, along with operating a help desk to support small and medium-sized enterprises that have advanced into countries subject to U.S. taxation, such as Mexico and Canada,” he said.
After the meeting, Minister Oh visited Taerim Industrial (CEO Oh Kyung-jin), a representative smart factory introduction company in Gyeongnam, and directly examined cases of digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence transformation (AX) in manufacturing sites.
Taerim Industrial is a small and medium-sized company that actively introduces artificial intelligence into manufacturing processes such as parts assembly and defect inspection to produce core parts for automobile steering systems. It supplies most of its products to global parts companies such as Bosch and ZF in Germany.
On this day, Taerim Industrial CEO Oh Kyung-jin emphasized, “Through 3D simulation incorporating AI, we were able to optimize the production process, reduce costs, increase production, and secure trust from global parts manufacturers.” He added, “The government needs to provide continued support so that small and medium-sized manufacturing companies can change and grow by utilizing AI.”
Regarding this, Minister Oh Young-joo said, “In a situation where global protectionism such as the tariff war is intensifying, the introduction of manufacturing artificial intelligence will be a solution to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic small and medium-sized manufacturers.” He added, “The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will prepare customized support measures so that manufacturing artificial intelligence can be actively spread to small and medium-sized manufacturing companies.”
Through this on-site visit to Gyeongnam, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups identified the current issues facing local SMEs and presented the government's direction for support. It also plans to continue to pursue policies that reflect the voices of the field.
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