Many countries recently took a keen interest in job creation and entrepreneurship building. In this regards, micro-enterprise is gaining attention from policymakers. Many of the micro-enterprises are composed of no employees other than self-employed owners. Micro-enterprise can contribute to not only finding the solutions for unemployment but providing the social safety net and promoting regional economy development. Therefore, policymakers push forward MSME (Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise) policy including micro-enterprise policy into SME policy.United Nations have adopted a new resolution for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, officially known as ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. In this agenda, UN suggested 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and 169 targets. SDGs are a little different from the former MDGs (Millennial Development Goals), for example, inclusion of enterprise development for economic growth and employment, addressed in Goal 8 of SDGs: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. Under this goal, the 8.3 target is set to encourage the formalization and growth of micro-enterprises.The Korean government did not pay much attention to micro-enterprises in the period of economic development, however, it began to take an interest in them when the economic crisis struck in the late 1990s. The crisis resulted in business and financial restructuring, which caused the sharp rise in unemployment. To settle this urgent situation, the South Korean government launched its first micro-enterprise policy in 1999. Since then, the micro-enterprise policy has been developed continuously.This study analyzes the micro-enterprise policy of Korea. First, it will review how the policy was introduced and developed. Afterwards, through a comparison with other countries including Japan and the United States, it will analyze the characteristics of the Korean micro-enterprise policy. Finally, it will suggest the implications based on findings
