The government has decided to allow large car companies to advance into the secondhand car market despite opposition from secondhand car dealers.

A deliberation committee under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held a meeting on Thursday and decided not to designate secondhand vehicles sales as one of the livelihood businesses that should be protected and reserved for small businesses.

The decision effectively opened the used car market to large companies.

The deliberation committee said that compared to the service industry and autos and auto parts industry, the secondhand vehicles industry represents a lower proportion of small businesses while their annual sales are larger, which means such companies are not "small" enough to be designated as livelihood businesses.

The committee, however, added that if the country's top automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia advance into the market, it is likely to cause damage to small businesses and thus appropriate measures are necessary.