Osong on a Full-Fledged Move to Become a K-Beauty Export Hub
Chungcheongbuk-do discusses enhancing the effectiveness of the ‘Osong Cosmetics & Beauty Industry Expo’ with local cosmetics companies through a roundtable
The effort to establish Osong as a global hub of Korea’s cosmetics industry is in full swing. Recently, Chungcheongbuk-do conducted a roundtable with local cosmetics companies to closely listen to industry voices and connect them with practical policies. This gathering was also a preparatory step for the successful hosting of the 2026 Osong Cosmetics & Beauty Industry Expo.
Osong Rising as a Center of the Cosmetics Industry
On December 23, 2025, in Chungbuk Cosmetics Clinical Research Support Center, a roundtable was held with cosmetics-related companies from the province. More than 30 experts from across the beauty industry, including manufacturing, distribution, raw materials, and packaging, gathered for more than just simple coordination.
The main agenda focused on how to conduct the ‘2026 Osong Cosmetics & Beauty Industry Expo’ more effectively and substantially. The effort is oriented towards transforming it from a mere display event into an export-linked business platform. At the core was the keyword ‘creating an environment that businesses can actually feel’.
Key Discussions: Practical Strategies for Expo Advancement
The most significant topic discussed was structural improvements for the expo and ways to enhance export competitiveness. Participants unanimously emphasized the need for a practical system to attract overseas buyers and directly connect export consultations with them at the expo site.
There was also a constant mention of the need to lower the entry barriers for company participation and expand B2B-focused program configurations. There was a consensus that it should become a starting point for long-term industrial leaps rather than a one-time showcase.
“This roundtable was organized to directly hear field voices and reflect them in policy directions.”
– Chungcheongbuk-do representative –
Various Requests from Beauty Companies
This roundtable centered on real difficulties faced by businesses, rather than just administrative delivery. Participating companies pointed out the lack of support in promotional marketing and developing domestic and international sales channels, emphasizing the urgency to build a system that allows closer access to R&D-based validation and clinical trial environments.
More detailed support such as tailored certification consulting reflecting the reality of SMEs, deregulation measures, and addressing difficulties in the training and maintenance of technical personnel were also requested. The emphasis was particularly on the need for effective dedicated systems for attracting professional talents through ‘academia-industry collaboration’.
Osong Cosmetics & Beauty Expo as an Industrial Platform, Not Just an Exhibition
Chungcheongbuk-do is preparing an upgrade strategy to enshrine the 2026 Osong Cosmetics & Beauty Industry Expo, reflecting various voices from the field, moving away from the concept of a simple event. The goal is clear. The expo should become a real opportunity leading to export contracts and strengthening the industrial ecosystem, not just a performance stage for regional industries.
To achieve this, connections with overseas exhibitions are being explored, and long-term plans to organically link the operation of the Osong industrial complex with the expo are also being considered.
Need for Executable Discussions to Increase Regional Competitiveness
Most importantly, this roundtable reaffirmed that policy establishment must start with the ‘voice of the business’. Companies burdened with lifestyle issues to industrial policies demand not long-term plans but immediate, efficient solutions.
As such, Chungcheongbuk-do plans to institutionalize regular roundtables in the future and continue refining a SME-friendly industrial support system through constant feedback. It is focusing on evolving the expo into one that attracts attention via substantive contracts and policy linkages, rather than sensory exhibitions.
New Opportunities for the K-Beauty Industry Begin in Osong
The domestic and international cosmetics market is now transitioning from being manufacturing-centric to total competition encompassing technology, brand, and distribution paths. Therefore, a hub platform that can integrate technology and manpower is imperative, and it is no coincidence that Osong is at the forefront of this discussion.
For this roundtable not to become a one-off event and for it to serve as a continuous blueprint for developing Osong into the center of the Asian beauty industry, continuity and execution strategies are necessary above all. The industry’s barometer reads the wind from businesses.
How to Develop a Support System That Businesses Can Feel
The key in the support direction set by Chungcheongbuk-do is ‘perceptibility’. Instead of ending with announcements and press releases, what is needed is a support policy that businesses can actually feel and use. Especially various items such as marketing support, certification consulting, and R&D connections require not short-term efficiency but sustainability and diversification.
Moreover, besides the expo, designing programs that can guide industrial activities throughout the year, such as beauty-related professional seminars, buyer invitation consultations, and technology exchange exhibitions, can be practically beneficial to the industrial ecosystem.
Key Pivots in Policy to Follow Post-Roundtable
In the future, what requires the most attention is how the opinions gathered by Chungcheongbuk-do will evolve into actual plans and action directives. It should not just be a form of passive listening but should be established as action-centric policy plans divided by chapters.
Furthermore, how these policies are custom-designed around ‘business focus’ is also of importance. Only when a collaborative system based on demand rather than unilateral administrative support is operated, can it lead to outcomes that fit the nomenclature of ‘industrial hub’.
In Conclusion
The strategy for fostering the cosmetics industry centered around Osong has become a starting point not just for the success of an event but for the practical development of industrial structure and expansion of export competitiveness. Policies felt by businesses and the substantiation of the expo are expected to be the key to driving Osong forward as a K-Beauty hub.
is collaborating with various companies to provide practical solutions to further strengthen Osong’s pivotal role in the domestic and international cosmetics market. Through this, we aim to enhance the global competitiveness of the K-Beauty industry.
