Two hundred forty domestic corporations will meet more than 1,200 domestic and overseas buyers in Magok, Seoul. Corporations across diverse sectors, from AI (artificial intelligence) to beauty and healthcare, and household goods and food, are moving to open overseas sales channels.
The World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Associations (World-OKTA) held the 2026 Korea Business Expo Gangseo at COEX Magok in Gangseo District, Seoul, on the 31st.
The core program of the expo is the exhibition and export consultation fair. It runs for two days from today to Apr. 1. During this period, 240 domestic corporations and institutions will participate and set up 279 booths. They will welcome 200 local overseas buyers and 1,000 Korean buyers affiliated with World-OKTA.
Marking its 27th edition, World-OKTA plans to grow the export consultation fair into a leading economic platform that consolidates the global Korean business network with domestic small and midsize enterprises. World-OKTA Chairman Park Jong-bum said, "We understand that each booth already has as few as 10 to more than 16 export-related consultations scheduled." Up to about 4,800 consultations are planned. This will serve as a springboard for future memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and export contracts.
In particular, this year features a global AI startup competition as a side event. Among 24 domestic and overseas corporations, outstanding corporations will be selected and matched with investors. All judging will be conducted by overseas experts, including venture capital (VC). Some investors are already said to have expressed intentions to invest tens of billions of won in the corporations.
Park said, "It will be a good opportunity to create new business not only for domestic local corporations but also for members."
Meanwhile, World-OKTA is a network of Korean businesspeople active in 154 cities across 75 countries. About 7,000 CEOs (chief executive officers) and more than 26,000 next-generation businesspeople participate in the association. They have held export consultation fairs every year to support domestic corporations in expanding overseas.