The Koreas | Diplomacy | East Asia
As strange as it sounds, the Korean beauty industry is playing an increasingly important role in Seoul’s foreign policy calculus.
K-Beauty products on display at a store in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
During a state visit to Brazil in late July 2026, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for a deeper partnership between Brazil and South Korea built on the following three pillars: commercial aircraft, critical minerals, and K-Beauty. While the first two are familiar agenda items across modern strategic partnerships, the third is decidedly not. Cosmetics rarely share space with jet manufacturing and rare earths, and their place on Lee’s diplomatic agenda reveals a lot about the Korean beauty industry’s growing role in Seoul’s foreign policy calculus.
Lee’s comment came at a Korea-Brazil business roundtable in São Paulo on July 28, where alongside delegations from companies like Samsung and HD Hyundai, the CEOs of K-Beauty titans AmorePacific Holdings, APR, Goodai Global, and Silicon2 joined the trade delegation. Meanwhile, a separate two-day showcase titled “K-Beauty Glow Big in Brazil” ran alongside the summit to put beauty brands like Beauty of Joseon, d’Alba, Isntree, and Mixsoon before Brazilian retail buyers.
