SME ministry pursues public-agency overhaul, plans to merge marketing and startup support bodies

South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups is moving to combine two agencies whose support for small businesses has been spread across overlapping functions and sales channels.

The ministry said on the 8th that it would reorganize the public institutions under its authority in line with the public-institution functional reform plan announced on the 3rd. Its first measure is to merge the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency’s distribution body with Public Home Shopping.

The combined organization will be established under the provisional name Korea Small and Medium Business Marketing Promotion Corporation. The two agencies have both worked to identify promising small and medium-sized enterprises and help turn their products into marketable goods, creating what the ministry described as similar and overlapping operations.

Sales assistance has also been divided among online and offline outlets, as well as the agencies’ own and external channels. The planned merger is part of the ministry’s effort to reorganize those functions.