Seoul's Mayor Oh aims to make city a global beauty hub
![Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announces Seoul Vision 2030, a blueprint to make Seoul into the top five global cities, at Seoul City Hall on Sept. 15, 2021. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/04/04/e35ece12-9c63-47d0-a001-03228788856f.jpg)
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announces Seoul Vision 2030, a blueprint to make Seoul into the top five global cities, at Seoul City Hall on Sept. 15, 2021. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]
Korea's capital is marketing itself as a global beauty hub to attract more tourists.
Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday announced a masterplan to nurture the city as a center for beauty and invest 204 billion won ($167.9 million) in businesses through 2026.
The campaign is one of the main ambitions laid out by Mayor Oh Se-hoon in his "Seoul Vision 2030" to help Seoul take off as a globally-competitive metropolis. In October, Oh told the Korea JoongAng Daily that his concept of beauty is "not just about beauty products" but "also includes other products and services."
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said its strategy is to make Korean beauty a competitive product through the masterplan. The plan includes "traditional" cosmetics, hairdressing and beauty care, and also fashion, design and beauty technology. It will also leverage K-pop, K-drama and tourism, the city government explained.
The master plan calls for increasing the number of preliminary unicorn companies for beauty fashion from the current eight to 12, and taking the number of world top 100 beauty and fashion companies in the city from four to six by 2025. It also aims to increase the number of related jobs from 60,000 to 100,000 over the same period.
The city will designate the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) area in central Seoul as the key base for Seoul's beauty and fashion this year and provide various incentives, such as easing building regulations, supporting loans and giving tax cuts.
Seongsu, Hongdae, Jongno, Sindorim, Garosu-gil, Jamsil, and Coex will be designated beauty commercial districts and major bases for the latest trends. Industrial bases in biomedical devices, such as Hongneung and G Valley, will be nurtured as a bases for a convergence of beauty and biomedical research and development.
![A base map of Seoul's beauty industry. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/04/04/324802cc-a4c4-44c5-9302-69af50ca0903.jpg)
A base map of Seoul's beauty industry. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]
The city plans to develop a 100-billion-won fund dedicated to the beauty industry, and invest in small and medium-sized companies and start-ups. This comes as 99.2 percent of beauty businesses in Seoul are small companies — higher than the nationwide average of 95.1 percent. It will also annually train 200 and 50 beauty industry professionals and influencers, respectively.
To promote domestic beauty companies, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to hold a Seoul Beauty Week for the first time in October and later expand it to include other Asian countries. It also plans to give comprehensive support to companies seeking to enter Southeast Asia, ranging from support to entering major online malls, license registration and logistics services.
"I will develop the beauty and fashion industry ecosystem of Seoul and turn it into a tourism resource to create a virtuous cycle with other industries," the Seoul mayor said through a press release.
"I will make Seoul a city for people from all over the world who want to experience the hottest beauty and fashion trends."
BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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