Gov't to boost exports of small companies: minister

The government will seek to boost outbound shipments by the country's small and medium-sized businesses to help increase the country's overall exports that will likely shrink from a year earlier without help, the commerce minister said Thursday.

"There seems to be little possibility our economy will face a longterm recession, but because the country is so heavily dependent on trade and the global economy, external economic conditions do greatly affect conditions here," Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Seok-woo said while meeting with reporters.

"I believe our economic conditions will be difficult for at least a year, but there is not a single country in the world that is not facing difficulties," he added.

South Korea's exports in the first eight months of the year shrank 1.5 percent from the same period last year with outbound shipments dropping 6.2 percent in August alone, the ministry said earlier.

Hong said such a drop was largely due to a decline in orders for large, expensive ships, which are traditionally placed by European countries. He said ship orders may drop by up to US$20 billion this year amid worsening global economic conditions stemming from eurozone debt woes.

To make up for apparent or inevitable losses by the shipbuilding industry this year, the government will seek to boost exports by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The ministry will soon send officials to every local district to listen to difficulties facing small exporters.

"Conditions for exports will not soon improve, but we will intensify our microscopic efforts to find even the slightest chance to help increase exports," the minister said.

He said wireless communication devices, such as cellular phones, will also likely be a deciding factor for a rise or decline of the country's exports as Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest supplier of smartphones, continues to increase overseas production of its products.

"We are worrying about this issue but there is no way for us to tell a private company that must maximize its profit to do otherwise, so we are hoping the company will at least do what it can to help, such as expanding its use of parts produced here," Hong said.

When asked to comment on a recent ruling by a U.S. court ordering Samsung to pay $1.05 billion in damages to Apple Inc. for infringement of patents held by the U.S. company, the minister said he hoped the case will raise the awareness of Korean firms, especially small and medium-sized companies, about intellectual property rights.

"The legal side of the issue must be dealt with by the company itself, but the government hopes companies, especially SMEs, will become better informed about the importance of intellectual property rights," he said.

"Now must be when the companies start better preparing themselves against such disputes and the government, too, will use this incident to establish a better system for protection of intellectual properties." (Yonhap)