Ministry of SMEs Supports 156 Small Businesses Entering US Market at World Korean Business Convention

Companies in Beauty, Food, and Medical Devices
Minister Oh Visits Opening Ceremony to Offer Encouragement
Pledges Cooperation with U.S. Small Business Administration Chief

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 18th that it supported the participation of 156 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners in the 23rd World Korean Business Convention.

The World Korean Business Convention is an event hosted annually by the Overseas Koreans Foundation, serving as a global business convention where overseas Korean merchants and domestic companies participate together. The 23rd World Korean Business Convention is being held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, from the 17th to the 20th (local time).

At the business exhibition held during the convention, about 350 companies and 500 buyers attend, and the global network of overseas Korean merchants maintained by the Overseas Koreans Foundation plays a role in supporting domestic companies' overseas expansion.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups selected 156 SMEs and small business owners with global competitiveness in the beauty, food, and medical device sectors to support product promotion, exhibitions, and corporate promotional booths. Amid increasing uncertainty in the global economy due to recent global tariff measures and strengthened protectionism, the overseas Korean business network is expected to be actively utilized as a platform for domestic export SMEs to overcome the global economic crisis.

Minister Oh Young-joo of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups attended the opening ceremony of the business exhibition on the morning of the 17th along with Lee Sang-duk, head of the Overseas Koreans Foundation, Kim Ki-moon, chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, Lee Seok-gi, chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee, and Consul General Joo of Atlanta, visiting booths of participating small business owners and SMEs to encourage the participating companies.

In the afternoon, Minister Oh met with Kelly Loeffler, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), at a reception hosted by the SBA, expressing the unwavering commitment to Korea-U.S. economic cooperation under the new U.S. administration and requesting SBA’s attention and support for Korean companies operating in the U.S. He also expressed hope to expand policy exchanges and cooperation between Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the U.S. SBA in the future.

He visited a cosmetics store operated by local Korean entrepreneur Missy Cosmetics to examine major cosmetic products sold in the U.S. market and to check trends in the K-Beauty market.

Minister Oh attended the convention’s opening ceremony and welcome dinner, which were attended by key figures from both Korea and the U.S., and read the congratulatory message from Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

In his congratulatory message, Acting President Han said, "As the slogan of this convention, 'Leap to the Korean Merchant Economic Zone,' suggests, if production and consumption, investment and labor movement, and supply chain construction are actively carried out, the horizon of the Korean economy will broaden significantly," and added, "The government will spare no policy and institutional support to assist export companies."