[News Today] K-BEAUTY EXPORTS HIT RECORD-HIGH

[LEAD]
Korean beauty products are enjoying explosive popularity all around the world. Last year marked a record high in domestic cosmetics exports. Export destinations now extend beyond China, reaching the United States, Japan and the Middle East.

[REPORT]
A cosmetics store in Myeongdong, Seoul.

It receives an average of 15,000 visitors a day and 90 percent of them are foreigners.

Fernanda / Brazil
I have seen online a lot of stuff about Korean products and it seems really good. Hydrating, moisturizer and everything is really good.

Even consumers in France, a powerhouse in the global cosmetics and beauty industry, visit Korea to purchase beauty products.

Laura / France
I know a lot of people try all the Korean cosmetics online in France. I mean it is just getting popular. We see a lot of them on social media.

Korean beauty products' extraordinary popularity worldwide can be observed in the sheer volume of exported items.

Korea's cosmetics exports briefly slowed down after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in 2021. But it began to bounce back again from 2022 and reached 10.2 billion U.S. dollars last year.

China is the biggest importer of Korean beauty products, followed by the U.S. and Japan. Last year, United Arab Emirates made it to the list of top ten importers for the first time.

Goh Ji-hun / Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
Thanks to Hallyu, product quality, price competitiveness, K-beauty products are popular among consumers in major export countries like the U.S. and Japan.

The Korean cosmetics industry is focusing on the U.S., one of the largest markets in the world.

But it is expected to face obstacles due to the second Trump administration's tariff barriers.