The ROK Ministry of SMEs and Start-up held the meeting on “Support SMEs’ Overseas Expansion” at the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation in December, 2018, with the heads of 11 exporting organizations, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and 12 regional SME offices.

MSS put export and overseas expansion of SMEs on the top of its priority in 2019 , which is considered to play a central role in overcoming the limitation of domestic job creation and fostering sustainable innovation. The meeting was intended to expand cooperation among participating organizations to support SMEs’ overseas expansion, and the detailed measures are as following:

Hallyu Wave Support. The project plans to use Hallyu cultural elements which has been spreading worldwide to support overseas marketing of convergence SMEs. 450 SMEs will be selected, with their products culturally designed and positioned and the overseas marketing programs will be tailored to these SMEs. A series of overseas marketing events will be organized to promote the Hallyu culture as well as advertise the products of the SMEs.

KITA Start-up Voucher Project. In order to support innovative start-ups to expand their overseas markets, the Korean government has allocated subsidies to Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in aim to enhance the competitiveness of Korean start-ups. KITA uses the government subsidies to provide services to the selected start-ups, including advocacy, marketing, and connecting with foreign businesses and resources through its branches abroad. KITA is responsible for converting government subsidies into services that could benefit Korean start-ups. 

Enlarged Involvement of SMEs in KOICA. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) intends to attract more SMEs to participate in South Korea's support programs for developing countries around the world, and encourage SMEs to choose developing countries, or underdeveloped countries as their overseas expansion destination, which can  be part of the effort of ROK to enhance the local economy as well.

Support from regional offices. The regional offices of SMEs and Start-ups will take effective measures to support the SMEs in their regions together with local government. The Gyeongnam Regional SMEs and Start-ups office presented a measure to support the exports of auto parts suppliers in the region, while the Seoul Regional SMEs and Start-ups office presented cooperation plans with Seoul, suggesting a possibility of expanding collaboration between local governments in the future.