Minister Han Seong-suk held a meeting with representatives of export small and medium-sized enterprises and noted on the 6th, "We will mobilize all available channels to provide the tariff information required by small and medium-sized enterprises in a timely manner."
On the same day at 3 p.m., Minister Han visited the logistics center of SILICON2, which serves as an export hub for cosmetics, as the second stop on a policy field tour in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.
The policy field tour is a series of continuous meetings aimed at directly visiting sites to reflect the voices of stakeholders in policy. It will be conducted 10 times each for three policy customer groups: small businesses, small and medium-sized enterprises, and startup ventures.
Minister Han said, "The export amount of small and medium-sized enterprises for the first half of this year announced this week increased by 3.0% compared to the same period last year" and expressed deep gratitude to small and medium-sized enterprises for their passion that has generated remarkable export achievements despite difficult internal and external conditions.
This meeting was held under the theme 'Tariff and export.' Minister Han listened to the difficulties small and medium-sized enterprises face in the changed export environment, including item and mutual tariff imposition.
A representative of a small and medium-sized enterprise said, "It is fortunate that the tariff negotiations have been concluded well, but the burden of the 15% tariff remains a fact," and requested, "Please establish effective support measures to minimize the tariff impact on export small and medium-sized enterprises."
Son In-ho, CEO of SILICON2, stated, "K-Beauty is centered around more than 30,000 cosmetic brands, and the ecosystem equipped with production and supply chains possesses tremendous competitiveness."
He added, "Since good quality and low prices are also competitiveness, we are trying to keep U.S. consumer prices as low as possible," and noted, "We are studying what issues may arise after the imposition of the 15% tariff."
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups has established support measures such as the '2025 export support plan for small and medium-sized enterprises' and the 'additional support plan for small and medium-sized enterprises in response to U.S. tariffs' to minimize tariff damage to export small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on this, it is focusing on policy measures such as the operation of the export voucher program and emergency management stabilization funds.
Minister Han evaluated SILICON2 as "a model case in the industry." He mentioned, "Small and medium-sized enterprises handle product planning, while medium-sized enterprises handle production, and SILICON2's platform is used for exports, allowing us to respond to rapidly changing markets," and added, "We are contemplating whether the SILICON2 case can be applied to other fields."
He also expressed the will to support small and medium-sized enterprises in overcoming tariff issues. Minister Han stated, "We will work to establish measures to revitalize online exports so that novice export corporations can easily access overseas markets and support growth through exports."
After the meeting, Minister Han toured the SILICON2 logistics center to examine the export preparation process and the overall cosmetics industry.
Minister Han said, "We are considering policies to enhance the competitiveness of export products, such as in research and development (R&D) or logistics, and collaborative support measures that allow small and medium-sized enterprises to form shared logistics to respond to external environments."
He further remarked, "Support for exports and R&D is essential for increasing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises," and added, "We will actively review the opinions that came up during the meeting."