Establishing a Start-up Business in Korea as a Foreign Entrepreneur

Korea has emerged as the 15th largest economy in the world, resulting in a large increase in FDI inflows and a flux of new expatriates moving to Korea since the late 1990s. More specifically, the number of foreigners moving to live in Korea has continuously increased from 1 million in 2007 to 2.18 million people in 2016, accounting for almost 4% of the entire Korean population.

While the majority of foreigners in Korea work primarily as expatriates in subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and as academics in educational institutions (e.g., universities, English language institutions, ‘hagwons’), a growing number of foreigners is establishing their own start-up businesses in Korea.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview on how foreign entrepreneurs can start-up a business in Korea, including the rules and regulations, and general advice on doing business in Korea. The chapter outlines the general SME sector in Korea, and examines the key industries, which are attractive for foreigners to start-up their businesses. In addition, the chapter analyses the ways how foreign entrepreneurs can do business in Korea, including the legal types of businesses, visa types for foreigners, start-up incubators for foreigners and key tax information for foreign start-ups.