The Korea Startup Forum said it welcomes the nomination of Han Seong-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups, as prime minister candidate.
In a commentary released Friday, the forum said, "Candidate Han's path, having grown into a business leader representing the digital industry, resembles the journey of startups that open new markets through challenges." It added that she is "the right person who understands both policy and the field in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology-led growth."
The forum said, "As the first Minister of SMEs and Startups in the Lee Jae-myung government, Candidate Han has worked to shift the ministry's center of gravity from 'protective support' to 'nurturing growth.'" It noted, "The Startup for Everyone Project, which lowered barriers so anyone can take on the challenge of starting a business, and the comprehensive plan to become one of the four venture powerhouses—aimed at fostering promising companies in the AI and deep-tech sectors and elevating the venture investment market to global standards—are evaluated as having laid the groundwork for the ecosystem to advance to the next level."
It continued, "We expect that the understanding of the field and the execution capability that Candidate Han demonstrated during her tenure as SMEs and Startups Minister will now expand across state affairs as a whole." The forum added, "We hope that policy support to back startups and a workable institutional environment will be prepared with a sense of speed, and that she will maintain unwavering interest in the tasks needed to grow the innovation ecosystem—including strengthening public-startup cooperation, redesigning institutions around startups, and supporting global scale-up, which the industry has consistently raised."
