The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Hong Sung-sook) announced on the 29th that it will begin recruiting small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in its K-export strategy program. This initiative aims to cultivate companies and products in sectors experiencing global demand growth, particularly beauty, leveraging the rising K-culture trend.

Originally focusing on beauty and food sectors, the K-export strategy will expand its scope in 2024 to recognize 30 promising export products from these areas. Last year, the initiative also included fashion and life sectors, ultimately selecting products from a total of 80 companies, thus supporting their entry into the global market.

The current recruitment will again target export categories in beauty, fashion, life, and food, with a thorough selection process that involves assessment on innovation and global expansion potential, competitive testing with foreign consumers, and product evaluation by global distribution firms and experts. Approximately 200 items are anticipated to be designated as K-export strategic products.

Selected companies will be provided with tailored overseas market entry programs facilitated by infrastructure and networks from domestic global distribution partners. Additionally, preference in government export support programs—such as export vouchers, overseas certification acquisition, and participation in international trade fairs and consultations—will be granted. This support can extend up to three years, along with prioritized engagement in the K-brand global expansion project.

Shim Jae-yoon, Director-General of the Global Growth Policy Division at the Ministry, emphasized that the trend surrounding small and medium K-consumer goods, especially in beauty, is increasingly becoming a staple in global lifestyles rather than a mere fad. He reiterated the commitment to strengthen policy support to enable these K-consumer goods to evolve into representative products that drive small business exports globally.