SMEs minister tours Ulsan and North Gyeongsang in second regional swing

The SMEs ministry said Monday that Minister Lee So-young completed a two-day visit to small businesses and merchants in Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province, the second stop in a series of overnight regional tours she has billed as the starting point for government policy.

The Oct. 30-31 trip followed an earlier swing through the Chungcheong region. In Ulsan, Lee met student founders at UNIST, a university designated as a startup hub focused on deep technology, where participants pressed for wider government and public-agency purchases of demonstration products and for support in securing GPU infrastructure for artificial intelligence work.

In Yeongcheon, she toured Hanjung NS, a maker of cooling systems for energy storage systems, and reviewed how the company moved from auto parts into ESS cooling over 15 years of technology development. Lee said such small firms could play a central role in realizing the government's "electro-state" vision and in the success of three major mega-projects, according to the ministry.

In Yeongju, she visited a retail district selected for the ministry's 2026 glocal commercial area program, being developed under the brand name Yeongju Octopus 1955. Lee stressed that for the potential of local resources to translate into real commercial vitality, the leading role must come from the people on the ground: merchants, local entrepreneurs and commercial-area planners.

"For regional startups, manufacturing innovation, new-industry regulation and the revitalization of small merchants, the starting point of government policy is the policy customer in the field," Lee said, adding that she would pursue regulatory improvement and policy feedback to produce changes people can feel.

In Andong, the minister discussed the direction of regulatory cleanup for the city's hemp special zone, including the need to revise narcotics laws, build production infrastructure such as GMP facilities and strengthen support for commercialization. The ministry said it would seek a reasonable regulatory framework with related bodies including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

The Andong stop coincided with the opening ceremony of the Korea Grand Festival, a cross-ministry consumption event running from Oct. 29 to Nov. 15 that involves about 40,000 companies, including large corporations and small merchants, across 10 government departments.

The ministry said Lee plans to continue visiting regions across the country to examine local conditions and policy demand, and to expand communication with small businesses and merchants.