A customer selects a book at an independent bookshop in the Hondage area in western Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — A new regulatory change is expected to make it possible to operate a single-person publishing company, even at cafes or warehouses, without the need to have a separate independent space.
The Office of the SME Ombudsman, which represents small and medium-sized enterprises, said Wednesday that the culture ministry would revise the relevant manual by the end of this year through consultation with the finance land ministries.
Since 2017, the office has proposed that the culture ministry revise relevant guidelines to enable single-person publishing houses to operate in general neighborhood convenience facilities without separate partitions by sharing space with other types of businesses.
In the case of single-person, non-store publishing houses, they can operate in residential facilities.
However, since the publishing company’s address is registered as a home address, the individual’s residential information is disclosed.
When filing for business registration, they must explain the situation to their landlord if they do not own their home.
Even when running a publishing company at neighborhood convenience facilities, it was difficult to prepare an independent space through the establishment of partitions.
Accordingly, it has been challenging to run a publishing business at cafes, warehouses, or business facilities.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
