Person
South Korean politician and former Kim & Chang lawyer who serves as Minister of SMEs and Startups after two terms as a Democratic Party lawmaker.
South Korea's startup ministry will issue a notice this month to select six more Startup Cities, joining the current four. A founder at the Daejeon roundtable said regional funds have little to invest, so the notice's terms will show whether designation brings capital.
Reality
Korea Exchange paused delisting procedures for eight small caps after a court granted injunctions to two of them over its market-cap rule. Some flagged shares hit their daily upper limit on the news, a bet that regulators will soften a test the exchange still applies.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishersReality
Korea's SME ministry broke ground on a 217.3 billion won lab hub in Songdo built to house 60 bio startups by 2028. Private money is 8.1 billion won of that, so the state is building the cluster before investors have shown they will follow the tenants in.
Reality
Lee So-young, Korea's SME minister, wants the digital Onnuri voucher discount set above the 5% her ministry proposed as a cut from today's 7%. The draft budget assumes 5%, so any extra point needs money the National Assembly would have to add in its review.
Reality
Korea will cut the Onnuri voucher's upfront discount to 5% and pay up to 5% more at traditional markets, on issuance trimmed to 4.6 trillion won. With 65% of redemptions already at markets, much of the rebate pays for spending the program already had.
Reality
Lee So-young's nomination begins the work of putting a confirmed minister back over Korea's SME and startups brief, whose venture-capital and overseas-expansion tasks have so far been stated without a number attached.
Reality
Lee So-young told merchants in Suwon that more voucher benefit should reach traditional markets, and that a plan is coming within days. Her ministry had weighed a 900 billion won cut to 2027 issuance.
Reality
Celltrion Healthcare's 1.0088 trillion won in 2017 still stands alone, and Yanolja, Viva Republica and Galaxy Corporation are all pursuing US listings while KOSDAQ turnover runs at less than half January's.
Reality