A National Assembly confirmation hearing for Minister nominee Lee So-young of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups will be held on the 15th.
According to the Trade. Industry Energy. SMEs. and Startups Committee of the National Assembly on the 2nd, ruling and opposition party secretaries agreed to hold a confirmation hearing for the nominee on the 15th after consultations.
Lee Jae-myung, the president, on Aug. 30 nominated the nominee, a two-term Democratic Party lawmaker, as Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), a post left vacant after Han Seong-sook took office as prime minister.
Born in 1985, the nominee is a politician who previously worked as an environmental and energy attorney. After serving on the environmental and energy team at KIM&CHANG, the nominee founded a nonprofit related to the environment in 2016 and continued activities to address environmental issues such as climate change. After winning election in the 21st general election in 2020 in Uiwang and Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, the nominee won a second term in the 22nd general election in 2024.
At the hearing, regulatory reform plans the nominee has emphasized since the nomination are expected to be a key issue. In the first doorstep interview on Aug. 31, the nominee described the role as the "Minister of regulatory reform" and said the nominee would improve the reality in which startups and small and midsize businesses cannot pursue innovative ideas because they are blocked by regulations.
In particular, questions from ruling and opposition party lawmakers are expected to continue over how to mediate conflicts of interest between new and existing industries and how to change regulatory approaches.
The relative lack of on-site experience in the fields of small and midsize businesses, startups and microbusiness owners is also subject to scrutiny. Whether the nominee has the expertise and field response capability to lead Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) policies as Minister is expected to be a major issue.
On the other hand, expertise in the environmental and energy fields is cited as the nominee's distinctive strength. Considering the realities of small and midsize businesses and microbusiness owners who must respond to climate change and environmental regulations, there is interest in how to achieve consolidation of environmental expertise with small business and startup policy.