Koo Jageun Leads Improvements to K-Beauty Loan Project Issues!

Koo Jageun, Member of the National Assembly (Gumi City, Gyeongbuk Province, and a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee), pointed out the problems of the K-Beauty Loan project today to Han Seongsook, Minister of Small and Medium Venture Businesses.

Koo Ja-geun, Member of the National Assembly (Gumi City, Gyeongbuk Province, and a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade, Energy, Small and Medium Enterprises Committee), pointed out the issues of the K-Beauty Loan project today to Han Seong-sook, Minister of SMEs and Startups. Photo by Office of Koo Ja-geun

The K-Beauty Loan project, which began in April this year, is designed to support the production costs of new products for outstanding cosmetics brands. The government provides low-interest policy loans of up to 100 million won per company, up to twice a year, with a budget of 20 billion won allocated for this year.

However, there have been criticisms that the project’s eligibility requirements are limited to order-placing companies that do business with manufacturers registered with the Korea Cosmetics Association (Chairman: Suh Kyungbae of Amorepacific), raising concerns that the government is favoring a specific association or organization.

There are about 4,800 cosmetics manufacturers in Korea, but only about 120 are members of the association, and these are mainly large and mid-sized companies.

Koo Jageun pointed out that since the project was launched in April, the number of member companies in the association has increased by 43, criticizing, "Isn't it the case that small and medium-sized enterprises have had no other choice but to join?"

Minister Han Seongsook responded to these concerns by saying, "We have recognized the issue after receiving these criticisms and will make improvements," adding, "We will ensure that the selection of support recipients does not require going through the association, and will announce these changes on October 31."

The issue of the K-Beauty Loan project, which was designed to support small and medium-sized cosmetics manufacturers but limited eligibility to members of a specific association, is expected to be addressed and improved.