Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2022

25. Korea

Key facts on SME financing

In the course of responding to the COVID-19 crisis, SME loans increased significantly. From 2015 to 2019, the average annual increase in new SME loans was about KRW 46.5 trillion, but from 2019 to 2020, SME loans increased by about KRW 89.6 trillion. During the same period, loans to large corporations also showed a steep increase; thus, the share of SME outstanding loans decreased slightly.

Short-term loans as a share of total loans steadily declined between 2007 (75%) and 2018 (50%). However, since 2018, the proportion of short-term loans has shown a slight upward trend. As real estate prices rose from 2019, the value of collateral held by companies increased. As a result, additional collateral loan capacity was created. However, since facility loan only occurs when new facilities are purchased or built, short-term working capital loans have increased instead.

The government has also actively provided support to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, resulting in a sharp increase in the amount of loans covered by government guarantees compared to the past. While from 2015 to 2019 the increase in government-guaranteed loans averaged only about KRW 2 trillion per year, from 2019 to 2020 they increased by about KRW 11.2 trillion. This is more than five times the average annual increase in the past. The total amount of corporate loans also increased sharply during the same period, so the ratio of government-guaranteed loans to total loans did not increase significantly.

Looking at direct government loans, figures from 2020 also show a steep increase. From 2015 to 2019, the growth rate of direct government loans was only about KRW 0.1 trillion per year on average, while it was about KRW 1.9 trillion from 2019 to 2020. This is more than 10 times the average annual increase in the past.

The trend in the ratio of non-performing loans among all corporate loans continues to decline. Similarly, the share of non-performing loans in total SME loans has also declined. In particular, non-performing loans also dropped in 2020, when the supply shock and demand shock of the economy continued due to COVID-19 pandemic. The reason behind this decline is not a recovery of companies’ sales or profits, but rather because a loan principal and interest repayment deferral policy has been implemented.

Interest rates on corporate loans fell sharply in 2020. This is due to accommodative monetary policy to respond to the economic shock caused by COVID-19, rather than a decline in corporate default rates. The Bank of Korea's base interest rate, which was 1.75% at the end of 2018, fell to 0.5% in mid-2020, when the Republic of Korea was directly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As new start-up activities contracted due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the growth rate of venture and growth capital was greatly reduced. While in 2018, venture and growth capital registered a growth rate of about 44%, in 2019 the growth rate was approximately 25%; in 2020 the growth in venture and growth capital registered a steep decline, with only 0.6% y-o-y growth.

Table 25.1. Scoreboard for Korea

Indicators	Units	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Debt
Outstanding business loans, SMEs	KRW trillion	443	441	455	462	489	522	561	610	655	696	747	836
Outstanding business loans, total	KRW trillion	531	541	586	618	654	706	756	776	817	857	906	1 020
Share of SME outstanding loans	% of total business loans	83.5	81.5	77.7	74.7	74.7	74.0	74.2	78.6	80.2	81.2	82.4	82.0
Outstanding Short-term loans, total; loans for operation	KRW trillion	373	372	388	395	405	419	426	414	419	429	462	528
Outstanding Long-term loans, total; loans for equipment	KRW trillion	158	169	197	223	249	287	330	362	398	428	444	492
Share of short-term loans; loans for operation	KRW trillion	70.3	68.7	66.3	63.9	61.9	59.3	56.3	53.4	51.3	50.1	51.0	51.8
Government loan guarantees, SMEs	KRW trillion	56	56	55	57	59	60	61	63	66	67	69	80
Government guaranteed loans, SMEs	% of SME business loans	12.7	12.7	12.2	12.3	12.2	11.5	10.9	10.3	10.0	9.7	9.2	9.6
Direct government loans, SMEs	KRW billion	4 812	3 098	2 957	3 149	3 715	3 270	3 902	4 551	4 666	4 415	4 358	6 290
Non-performing loans, total	% of all business loans	1.6	2.6	1.73	1.66	2.39	2.09	2.56	2.06	1.76	1.88	1.45	1.17
Non-performing loans, SMEs	% of all SME loans	1.8	3.11	2.17	1.96	2.11	1.94	1.64	1.3	1.11	1.10	0.94	0.79
Interest rate, SMEs	%	6.18	6.52	6.36	5.93	5.11	4.69	3.95	3.63	3.62	3.82	3.71	3.06
Interest rate, large firms	%	5.62	5.98	5.81	5.50	4.87	4.51	3.79	3.40	3.31	3.45	3.38	2.83
Interest rate spread	%	0.56	0.54	0.55	0.43	0.24	0.18	0.16	0.24	0.31	0.37	0.33	0.23
Rejection rate	%, 1-(SME loans authorised/ requested)	..	..	..	..	..	6.90	3.70	12.20	12.90	15.50	10.40	16.1
Non-bank finance
Venture and growth capital	KRW billions	867	1 091	1 261	1 233	1 385	1 639	2 086	2 150	2 380	3 425	4 278	4 305
Venture and growth capital (growth rate)	%	19.7	25.8	15.6	-2.2	12.3	18.4	27.2	3.1	10.7	43.9	24.9	0.63
Leasing and hire purchases	KRW trillions	14.4	20.4	21.6	20.6	22.6	25.5	28.3	29.5	32.9	34.7	36.1	39.0
Other indicators
Payment delays, SMEs	Number of days past due date	9.9	12.1	11.7	9.1	9.7	10.0	9.2	13.3	8.9	7.4	8.4	8.5
Bankruptcies, total	Number	1 998	1 570	1 359	1 228	1 001	841	720	555	494	469	414	292
Bankruptcies, growth rate	Year-on-year growth rate, %	-26.9	-21.4	-13.4	-9.6	-18.5	-16.0	-14.4	-22.9	-11.0	-5.1	-11.7	-29.5

Source: See Table 25.8

SMEs in the national economy

As of 2018, the total number of companies existing in Korea was approximately 6,644,000, and the number of SMEs was approximately 6,638,000. As a result, SMEs account for 99.9% of all companies. On the other hand, the number of employees working in all Korean companies is about 20.6 million, of which the total number of employees working in SMEs is about 17.1 million. Therefore, 83.1% of all employed people are employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In terms of sales, the total sales of all companies is about KRW 549 billion. Among them, the total sales of SMEs is about KRW 266 billion, meaning that about 48.5% of the total sales are generated by SMEs.

Table 25.2. The status of SMEs in Korea, 2018

	Total (A)	SMEs (B)		Large Enterprises (D)	%
			Small Business (C)		SMEs (B/A)	Small Business (C/A)	Large Enterprises (D/A)
Number of establishments	6 643 756	6 638 694	6 199 980	5 062	99.9	93.3	0.1
Employment	20 591 641	17 103 938	8 969 291	3 487 703	83.1	43.6	16.9
Sales (KRW 100 million)	54 911 068	26 628 830	9 210 477	28 282 238	48.5	16.8	51.5

Source: Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, “SME Status Indicators 2020”, 2020. 12.

Total SME lending

COVID-19 has caused a sharp increase in the total amount of corporate loans. In particular, the total amount of corporate loans in 2020 increased by about KRW 114 trillion compared to 2019. From 2015 to 2019, the average annual increase in the total amount of corporate loans was about KRW 37.6 trillion. Therefore, it means that the total amount of corporate loans in 2020 compared to 2019 increased more than three times faster.

During the same period, the total amount of SME loans increased by about KRW 89.6 trillion, which is nearly 1.9 times higher than the average annual growth rate of SME loans from 2015 to 2019.

Corporate loans increased significantly for both large companies and SMEs. In the case of large enterprises, the total amount of loans to large enterprises increased by about KRW 24.4 trillion in 2020 compared to 2019. The increase in loans to large corporations as well as SMEs is a very unusual phenomenon considering the fact that the total loans to large corporations decreased by about KRW 0.5 trillion and KRW 1.5 trillion, respectively, in 2018 compared to 2017 and 2019 compared to 2018. Large corporations usually raise funds directly from the market by printing corporate bonds as it is more cost-effective than bank loans. However, in 2020, the corporate bond market contracted in the aftermath of COVID-19, making it difficult to raise funds. Many companies were trying to secure emergency funds in a future economic slowdown. For this reason, large corporations took out loans using the limit loans that were previously open.

The increase in loans to SMEs is mainly due to the deterioration of the industry due to the spread of COVID-19, and the increase in loans to large enterprises is mainly attributed to precautionary efforts to secure liquidity to prepare for uncertainty.

Meanwhile, this rapid increase in the total amount of loans was possible due to the active supply of funds from banks in accordance with government policy.

Figure 25.1. Lending to SMEs and large enterprises, 2003-2020

KRW Trillions

Source: Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS).

Statlink

Credit conditions

Since 2015, the proportion of non-performing loans in total loans has steadily declined. The ratio of non-performing loans, which reached about 3.7% in 2015, steadily declined to 1.45% in 2019. The decline in non-performing loans through 2019 meant that the lending market became more efficient. However, the fact that the proportion of non-performing loans has decreased significantly even in a situation where most large corporations and SMEs are taking a big hit in sales and profits due to COVID-19 is greatly influenced by the policy of deferment of principal and interest repayment of loans.

From April 2020, the Republic of Korea has implemented measures to extend loan principal maturity and defer repayment of principal and interest for SMEs and small businesses affected by COVID-19 in all financial sectors. This policy is still ongoing as of October 2021. This policy is discussed in more detail in the government policy response section below.

Compared to 2019, interest rates on loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations both fell sharply in 2020. This is mainly due to the Bank of Korea's accommodative monetary policy in response to COVID-19. The Bank of Korea's base interest rate, which was 1.75% as of the end of 2018, fell to 0.5% in mid-2020, when the Republic of Korea was directly hit by the COVID-19. Then, in August 2021, the Bank of Korea decided to raise the base rate by 25bp, and as of October 2021, the base rate remains at 0.75%.

The spread of interest rates on loans to large corporations and SMEs, which has been steadily expanding from 2015 to 2018, has rather narrowed in 2019 and 2020. This is partially explained by the government's steady efforts to create a favourable loan environment for SMEs. In particular, in 2020, the interest rate spread between loans to large enterprises and SMEs fell by about 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year, which is considered to be related to the increase in lending to large enterprises in 2020. Large firms, which mainly raise funds from the corporate bond market, increased demand for bank loans in 2020 as the corporate bond market shrinks, putting upward pressure on the interest rates on bank loans to large corporations.

The rejection rate increased significantly from 2015 to 2018. However, in 2019, the rejection rate decreased by about 5.1%p compared to 2018.

Figure 25.2. Loan interest rate on loans for SMEs and large firms in Korea, 2009-20

Source: Bank of Korea (BOK).

Statlink

Venture and growth capital investment

Venture investment in 2020 recorded an all-time high of KRW 4.304.5 trillion, breaking the previous record high of KRW 4.27 trillion in 2019. In addition, the number of investment cases (4,231 cases) and the number of investee companies (2,130 companies) in 2020 also surpassed 4,000 and 2,000 for the first time, respectively, recording all-time highs.

According to the data released by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, in the second quarter of last year, investment decreased significantly (△27.4%) compared to the same quarter of 2019. This trend of investment recovery continued in the fourth quarter, with investment reaching KRW 1.41 trillion in the fourth quarter alone (increasing KRW 253.3 billion, +21.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019).

As such, the increase in investment (+KRW 366 billion ) in the second half of 2020 (3rd - 4th quarter) surpassed the decrease (△ KRW 39.2 billion) in the first half (1st and 2nd quarters).

Nevertheless, the growth rate, which has continued at more than 10% annually since 2017, has been greatly reduced in the aftermath of COVID-19, showing only an increase of about 0.63% in venture and growth capital in 2020 compared to 2019. In particular, it was found that investment in the distribution/service and video/performance/record industries, where related industries were generally damaged in the aftermath of COVID-19, decreased compared to 2019.

Table 25.3. Venture and growth capital in Korea

KRW billion

Stage	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Early	247.6	319.2	372.2	369.6	369.9	504.5	647.2	790.9	779.6	981.0	1390.1	1320.5
Expansion	260.1	290.4	329.6	313.7	325.9	406.9	582.8	615.6	664.1	1,193.5	1766.2	1726.8
Later	359.4	481.4	559.0	550.0	688.7	727.9	855.8	743.8	936.6	1,250.4	1121.4	1257.2
Total	867.1	1 091.0	1 260.8	1 233.3	1 384.5	1 639.3	2 085.8	2 150.3	2 380.3	3,424.9	4277.7	4304.5

Source: Korea Venture Capital Association, “Venture Capital Market Brief”, 2020.01-2020.12.

Other indicators

Payment delays are calculated as an average, dividing the total number of days payments on short-term loans are overdue divided by the number of SMEs that possess overdue accounts. The average days of delay for short-term SME loans decreased from 13.3 days in 2016 to 7.4 days in 2018, the lowest figure over the period. However, it increased again from 2019 and increased to an average of 8.4 days in 2019 and an average of 8.5 days in 2020.

According to the Bank of Korea, the number of bankruptcies increased to 2 735 in 2008, after the global financial crisis. This figure decreased since then, and reached 292 in 2020, a record low. The decline until 2019 can be attributed to the economic recovery and financial support from the government.

However, in the case of 2020, bankruptcies declined significantly despite the damage caused by COVID-19, which is judged to be the result of the government's expansionary and active financial policies. In particular, the policy of extending loan maturity and deferring principal and interest payment seems to play a major role.

Government policy response

To support small business owners from the COVID-19 outbreak, the Korean government quickly provided low-interest loans through guarantees, extended existing loans' maturity, implemented a policy of deferring principal and interest payments and implemented a direct income preservation policy in the form of previous expenditures.

First, financial support program for small businesses was conducted twice in the 1st (March 2020, KRW 16.4 trillion) and 2nd (April 2020, KRW 10 trillion). As a result, as of January 2021, KRW 18.3 trillion of funds was quickly supplied to about 790,000 small businesses. In particular, in January 2021, the system was reorganized, such as lowering the interest rate (up to 2 percentage points cut) and guaranteeing fees for the secondary financial support program for small businesses (from 0.9% to 0.3% for the first year). In addition, a special support program was newly established to allow small business owners to borrow up to KRW 10 million in loans in industries subject to collective restrictions. For example, The Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups implemented emergency loan support for small business owners with difficulties due to the increase in social distancing related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals or entrepreneurs who meet the criteria for a small business such as average annual sales and do not have loan restrictions such as tax arrears or arrears at financial institutions are eligible for support. The maximum loan limit per company is KRW 20 million, and the loan period is five years at a fixed interest rate of 2% per year.

Second, the Korean government has been implementing measures to extend the principal maturity and defer repayment of principal and interest for small businesses and small businesses affected by COVID-19 in all financial sectors since April 2020. This policy has been extended every six months and is still in effect as of October 2021. The policy is evaluated to have bought time for both small and medium-sized businesses and the financial sector to respond to the impact of COVID-19. In particular, according to the analysis of the Bank of Korea, the deferred payment of principal and interest lowered the proportion of liquidity-constraint households by 1.8~1.9 percentage points and lowered the proportion of insolvent households by 0.6 percentage points. However, as the insolvency is accumulating considering the extension of repayment deferral, there is also an opinion that a more active soft landing and countermeasures for vulnerable borrowers are needed.

Due to the extension of the principal maturity and the deferral of principal and interest repayment, the maturity of loans totalling KRW 209.7 trillion (819,000 cases) was extended from April 2020 to July 2021. In addition, a deferral of principal repayment of KRW 12.1 trillion (78 thousand cases) and a deferment of interest repayment of KRW 209.7 billion (15 thousand cases) were implemented. Among the balance of the deferred principal and interest repayment loan, the proportion that received pre-consultation according to the soft-landing plan (effective from April 2021) is reported to be 10.4%. Some banks provide soft landing consulting immediately when applying for a new repayment deferral, so the support performance is increasing.

Third, the Korean government implemented a direct income preservation policy in the form of previous expenditures. For example, the Small Business Hope Recovery Fund policy supports up to KRW 20 million to small businesses that have implemented the ban due to the prohibition of gatherings. In addition, a maximum of KRW 9 million was provided to small businesses (including small business owners) whose sales have decreased due to business restrictions as part of the government quarantine measures. Meanwhile, a maximum of KRW 4 million was provided to small businesses whose industry sales have decreased by more than 10% due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Table 25.4. Performance of maturity extension & deferred repayment support, April 2020-July 2021

	Maturity extension (Lump sum repayment)		Principal repayment deferral (Amortization)		Interest payment deferral (Lump sum repayment + Amortization)
	KRW billion	10 thousand	KRW billion	10 thousand	KRW billion	10 thousand
Bank	135 600	55.6	9 800	2.5	77.5	0.6
Public financial institution	73 300	25.4	1 600	1.7	66.1	0.5
Non-bank	800	0.6	600	3.6	66.0	0.4
Total	209 700	81.6	12 100	7.8	209.7	1.5

Source: Financial Services Commission, “Improvement Plan for Maturity Extension and Repayment Deferred Support System”, September 16, 2021.

Table 25.5. Balance of extended maturity & deferred repayment loan, July 2021

	Maturity extension		Principal repayment deferral		Interest payment deferral
	KRW trillion	10 thousand	KRW trillion	10 thousand	KRW trillion	10 thousand
Bank	78.9	38.5	5.3	1.3	2.3	0.4
Public financial institution	24.7	17.0	4.5	0.4	1.7	0.1
Non-bank	0.5	0.2	1.5	1.4	1.2	0.4
Total	104.1	55.8	11.3	3.2	5.2	1.0

Source: Financial Services Commission, “Improvement Plan for Maturity Extension and Repayment Deferred Support System”, September 16, 2021

Table 25.6. Korean government’s ‘Innovation Venture Capital Fund’ plan, 2018-20

KRW trillion

	2018			2019			2020			Total
	total	public	private	total	public	Private	total	public	private
Innovation Startup Fund	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.7	0.4	0.3	0.7	0.4	0.3	2.0
Growth Support Fund	2.0	0.8	1.2	3.0	0.9	2.1	3.0	0.9	2.1	8.0
Total	2.6	1.1	1.5	3.7	1.3	2.4	3.7	1.3	2.4	10.0

Source: Ministry of Strategy and Finance. .

Box 1. Definition of SMEs used in Korea’s SME and entrepreneurship finance scoreboard

The BOK (Bank of Korea) and the FSS (Financial Supervisory Service) have the same definition of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An SME denotes an establishment whose average sales or annual sales meet the standards in Table 25.7 and total assets are less than KRW 500 billion. This definition of SMEs is based on the Article 2 of the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises and Article 3 of its enforcement decree.

Table 25.7. Definition of SMEs used by BOK and FSS

Sector1	SMEs	Small Business	Micro- enterprises
Average Sales(billion)	Average Sales(billion)	No. of Workers
wearing apparel, clothing accessories and fur articles	Less than 150	Less than 12	Less than 10
leather, luggage and footwear
basic metals
electrical equipment
Furniture
pulp, paper and paper products		Less than 8
food products	Less than 100	Less than 12
coke, briquettes and refined petroleum products
chemicals and chemical products; except pharmaceuticals and medicinal chemicals
fabricated metal products, except machinery and furniture
electronic components, computer; visual, sounding and communication equipment
other machinery and equipment
motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply			Less than 5
Water supply
Mining and quarrying		Less than 8	Less than 10
tobacco products
textiles, except apparel
wood and of products of wood and cork; except furniture
rubber and plastics products
other transport equipment
Construction
Agriculture, forestry and fishing			Less than 5
Wholesale and retail trade		Less than 5
beverages	Less than 80	Less than 12	Less than 10
pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products
other non-metallic mineral products
Printing and reproduction of recorded media		Less than 8
medical, precision and optical instruments, watches and clocks
Other manufacturing
Transportation and storage
Information and communication		Less than 5	Less than 5
Water supply; sewage, waste management, materials recovery; except water supply		Less than 3
Professional, scientific and technical activities	Less than 60	Less than 3	Less than 5
Business facilities management and business support services; except rental and leasing activities
Arts, sports and recreation related services
Maintenance and repair services of industrial machinery and equipment		Less than 1	Less than 10
Human health and social work activities			Less than 5
repair and other personal services
Financial and insurance activities	Less than 40	Less than 8
Real estate activities		Less than 3
Rental and leasing activities
Accommodation and food service activities		Less than 1
Education

Note: General Criteria (Article 2 of Framework Act on SMEs and Article 3 of Enforcement Decree of the Act). For micro-enterprises, Article 2 of the Act of the Protection of and Support for Micro-enterprises shall apply.

Figure 25.3. Trends in SME and entrepreneurship finance in Korea

Source: See table 25.8

Statlink

Table 25.8. Definitions and sources of indicators for Korea’s Scoreboard

Indicators	Definition	Source
Debt
Outstanding business loans, SMEs	Bank(Commercial Bank+Specialized bank) loans to non financial SMEs, amount outstanding, stocks. KRW trillions	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Outstanding business loans, total	Business bank(Commercial Bank+Specialized bank) loans to all non-financial enterprises, amount outstanding, stocks, KRW trillions	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Outstanding short-term loans, total; loans for operation	Outstanding amounts, loans of less than one year, KRW trillions.	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Outstanding long-term loans, total; loans for equipment	Outstanding amounts, loans of greater than one year, KRW trillions.	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Government loan guarantees, SMEs	Value of loans guaranteed by KODIT, KIBO; stocks, KRW trillions	Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT), Korea technology finance corporation(KIBO)
Direct government loans, SMEs	Direct government loans supplied by SBC only, KRW billions.	Small & medium Business Corporation (SBC)
Non-performing loans, total	Percentage of Total Non-Performing Loans of Domestic Bank (Commercial Bank+Specialized bank). In, Korea, NPL is a sum of loans classified as substandard, doubtful, and presumed loss.	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Non-performing loans, SMEs	Percentage of SME Non-Performing Loans of Domestic Bank (Commercial Bank+Specialized bank). In, Korea, NPL is a sum of loans classified as substandard, doubtful, and presumed loss.	Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Interest rate, SMEs	Average interest rates charged on new SME loans during the period	Bank of Korea (BOK)
Interest rate, large firms	Average interest rates charged on new large firms loans during the period	Bank of Korea (BOK)
Interest rate spread (between average rate for SMEs and large firms)	SME loan rate - Large corporation loan rate.	Bank of Korea (BOK)
Interest rate, large firms	Average interest rates charged on new large firms loans during the period	Bank of Korea (BOK)
Rejection rate	Percentage of SMEs (firms with 5-299 employees) applied for new bank loan but was rejected.	Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), SME Financing Survey
Non-bank finance
Venture and growth capital	Annual amounts invested including early, expansion and later stages.	Korean Venture Capital Association(KVCA)
Leasing and hire purchases	New production of leasing and hire purchases in one year, flows, KRW trillions	The Credit Finance Association
Other
Payment delays, SMEs	Average days of delay past loan contract date.	Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS)
Bankruptcies, total	Bankrupt firms in Small Business Corporation’s portfolio.	Bank of Korea (BOK)

References

Bank of Korea, “Economic Statistics System”, available at: http://ecos.bok.or.kr/flex/EasySearch_e.jsp

Financial Services Commission, “Financial Policy Roadmap for 2019”, available at: http://www.fsc.go.kr/eng/new_press/releases.jsp?menu=01&bbsid=BBS0048

Financial Services Commission, “Improvement Plan for Maturity Extension and Repayment Deferred Support System”, September 16, 2021.

Financial Supervisory Service, “Monthly Financial Statistics Bulletin”, available at: http://efisis.fss.or.kr/fss/fsiview/indexw.html

Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, “Annual Report 2017”, available at: https://www.kodit.co.kr/index.jsp

Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, “SME Status Indicators 2020”, 2020. 12.

Korea Venture Captial Association, “Venture Capital Market Brief” available at: http://www.kvca.or.kr/Program/board/list.html?a_gb=board&a_cd=15&a_item=0&sm=4_1

Korea Venture Investment Corp, available at: https://www.k-vic.co.kr/eng/

Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), “Statistics DB Search”, available at: http://www.mss.go.kr/site/smba/06/10602010000002016102405.jsp

Ministry of Strategy and Finance, available at: http://english.mosf.go.kr/main.do

Small Business Corporation (SBC), available at: http://home.sbc.or.kr/sbc/index.jsp

Statistics Korea, Census on Establishments, available at: http://kostat.go.kr/portal/eng/index.action

The Credit Finance Association of Korea, “Industry Information”, available at: https://www.crefia.or.kr/english/statistics/creditcardResultUpdateView.xx

The Industrial Bank of Korea, “SME Financing survey”, available at: http://research.ibk.co.kr/research/board/finance-state/list