Sungmin Son, CEO of Wingate Korea Co., Ltd., has been appointed as a member of the Beauty Industry Special Committee under the National Bio Innovation Committee (chaired by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok). Based on his experience in responding to cosmetics export regulations and overseas licensing consulting, Son participated in policy discussions aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of K-beauty.
The appointment comes amid the expansion of the cosmetics industry into a future growth sector that integrates biotechnology, dermatology, safety evaluation, raw material innovation, digital healthcare, and global regulatory response capabilities. The Beauty Industry Special Committee is tasked with discussing policy directions to foster K-beauty as a bio-based future growth industry.
The National Bio Innovation Committee is a cross-ministerial top-level bio policy governance body officially launched on April 16. Chaired by Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, the committee serves as a pan-governmental control tower to link and coordinate bio policies previously implemented separately by different ministries, and to deliberate on key agendas including policy, regulation, and investment.
Since its launch, the committee has sequentially held three subcommittees on investment strategy, technology innovation, and industry promotion. Subsequently, on May 21, the first meetings of the Beauty Industry Special Committee and the Regulatory Special Committee were held, initiating discussions on major bio policy tasks.
The first meeting of the Beauty Industry Special Committee was organized to discuss policy directions for fostering K-beauty as a bio-based future growth industry. Key agenda items included technology development for global competitiveness, industrial infrastructure building, export support, and regulatory improvement tasks. A phased strategy for strengthening the beauty industry's growth was also reviewed.
Deputy Chairman Heemok Won of the National Bio Innovation Committee and CEO Jihun Son of Pharmaresearch attended as special committee chairs. Director Sanghee Kim of the Bio Industry Promotion Bureau moderated the meeting. Seventeen industry and expert committee members participated, including CEO Hyunkyu Choi of Kolmar Korea, CEO Kyung Choi of Cosmax, Vice Chairman Jaeho Yeon of the Korea Cosmetics Association, President Keunyoung Lee of Dongkook Pharmaceutical, Managing Director Jimin Jang of CJ Olive Young, Director Goonho Na of NAVER Healthcare, and CEO Sungmin Son of Wingate Korea.
Son is a regulatory expert with specialized knowledge in responding to regulations arising from cosmetics export diversification, cosmetics safety evaluation, and overseas market entry strategies. During the meeting, he emphasized the government's role and the need for support, focusing on regulatory changes in major K-beauty export markets and the difficulties faced by exporting companies.
Wingate Korea is a consulting firm that has supported domestic companies in responding to overseas regulations in various fields, including the US FDA, EU cosmetics regulations, entry into the Chinese and ASEAN markets, cosmetics safety evaluation, and global ingredient, label, and claim reviews. Through this committee participation, Wingate Korea plans to provide field-based regulatory expertise to policy discussions aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of the K-beauty industry.
CEO Sungmin Son stated, "For K-beauty to continuously secure competitiveness in the global market, it is important to have a system that integrally considers safety, efficacy, raw materials, labeling, claims, and export country regulations from the product development stage. Based on my industry experience, I will contribute to policy discussions so that the domestic beauty industry can proactively respond to changes in the global regulatory environment."
Meanwhile, the National Bio Innovation Committee plans to gather opinions from the industry through each subcommittee and special committee in the future. It also intends to establish a 'Korea Bio Innovation Growth Strategy' that includes regulatory improvements and investment plans.
Source: Read the original report | Published: May 28, 2026