Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)'s budget for next year has surpassed 900 billion won for the first time since the agency was founded. The plan is to support diversification of export markets and items in response to protectionism and to strengthen economic security, including supply chain stabilization.
KOTRA said on the 7th that the total budget for 2026 is 915.2 billion won, up 11.0% from this year's total budget, including the extra budget.
First, 40.2 billion won was allocated to the newly established "K-Export Star 500" project to foster key corporations with exports of $10 million or more. The plan is to select 100 corporations in promising industries such as AI and defense each year and provide focused support for overseas marketing, certification, and research and development (R&D) services to foster more than 500 key exporting corporations over the next five years.
It also allocated 49.2 billion won to support the overseas expansion of distribution corporations to expand the entry of K-consumer goods through the "Hallyu Highway." This will actively support exports of consumer goods such as K-food and K-beauty to markets with high preferences for Hallyu.
To diversify export markets, overseas trade offices will be newly established in regions such as Costa Rica and Kyrgyzstan, and 42 billion won will be secured to focus overseas exhibitions and trade missions on the Global South. It plans to take the lead in advancing Korea's corporations into the Global South by building local infrastructure and supporting marketing.
To strengthen economic security, a 42.4 billion won "emergency support voucher" will be provided. The policy aims to improve the response capabilities of exporting corporations, including tariff damage analysis and discovering alternative markets.
The budget to stabilize the supply chain for materials, parts, and equipment rose 667%, from 4.5 billion won this year to 35 billion won next year. In particular, 29.1 billion won was allocated to new industries such as the "domestic production promotion project for high-risk economic security items" to reduce dependence on overseas sources for key items essential to advanced industries and to strengthen the domestic production base.
In addition, KOTRA allocated budgets for projects to mark the AI era, including hosting a national AI exhibition (2 billion won) and developing an "AI export assistant" (3.9 billion won).
Kang Kyung-sung, KOTRA's president, said, "We will make every effort to ensure that the precious budget leads to tangible results for exporting corporations so that the momentum of export growth can continue next year," adding, "In particular, we will focus all our efforts on diversifying exports to usher in the era of the top five exporters and contribute to strengthening economic security."