What 'Korean Brand' Means When the CEO Isn't Korean

One Brand, Three Countries

Start with 3CE. The brand was founded in Korea. It is owned by L'Oréal, which announced on May 2, 2018 that it was buying 100% of Style Nanda, 3CE's owner. Korean media reported a price of about 400 billion won (roughly US$370 million at 2018 exchange rates). And according to the Korean outlet MTN, one 3CE lip product is made in China.

Founded in one country, owned in a second, made in a third. Is that a Korean brand? Most buyers would say yes, and most buyers would not have asked.

Dr.Jart+ tells a similar story. Estée Lauder agreed in November 2019 to buy the two-thirds of Have & Be it did not already own. The brand later recorded $375 million in impairments in fiscal 2025, the company explored a sale, and in July 2026 it said it would keep the brand, according to BeautyMatter. It is still sold as K-beauty, and it is owned by an American company.

Now Add the Passport Count

A new set of numbers makes the question harder. MTN reported on October 30, 2026 that Korean cosmetics corporations headed by a foreign national numbered 304 this year, up from 97 six years ago. That is the first time the group passed 1% of all such corporations. The figures come from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) data given to lawmaker Seo Young-seok's office.

The count measures one fact: the nationality of the person at the top. It says nothing about where a brand started, where its products are made or who owns its shares.

What Exactly Was Counted?

MTN describes the group as corporations that sell cosmetics they make themselves or commission from others, where the legal representative is a foreigner. The article gives two data points, 97 and 304, and no figures for the years in between. It does not publish the base behind the 1% line, the split by nationality, or whether these firms hold manufacturing or responsible-sales registrations.

A little arithmetic helps. If 304 is just over 1%, the base is below about 30,400 corporations. The Korean Cosmetic Association reported 28,412 responsible-sales businesses at the end of 2025, according to Cosmorning, and 304 would be about 1.1% of that. The units differ, a business versus a corporation, so treat this as a sense of scale, not a match.

The Government-Support Case

MTN's example is a "dermo K-beauty" brand that began as a cosmetics distributor and then launched its own label. Both of its co-CEOs hold Chinese nationality. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups selected it as a K-export strategic item, which brings overseas entry and marketing support linked to Olive Young. The article does not name the brand.

MTN reports that no rule was broken. Eligibility is set by the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises, which has no nationality condition, and the ministry says it does not check the representative's nationality. Professor Kim Joo-deok of Seoul Cyber University questioned whether domestic tax money should support firms with foreign CEOs. The reporter's conclusion is that it is time to discuss how far the K-beauty category should extend.

The Lilybyred Case Is More Nuanced

MTN says Chinese capital acquired Lilybyred. The details are narrower. Jing Daily reported on April 6, 2026 that Hangzhou Huanxi Group agreed to buy 36% of DYD Co., the brand's parent, for 120 million yuan (about $17.4 million). That would make Huanxi the largest shareholder, with closing expected by the end of May. We could not confirm the closing.

Put the three deals side by side and a pattern appears. Foreign ownership of Korean brands is older than the CEO count: L'Oréal and Style Nanda in 2018, Estée Lauder and Dr.Jart+ in 2019, Huanxi and the Lilybyred parent in 2026.

Four Questions a Buyer Should Ask

For an overseas buyer, "Korean brand" in a pitch is a claim that needs a definition. Four questions sort it out:

1. Origin: where was the brand founded, and by whom?

2. Representative: who signs as the legal representative? This is the only fact the MFDS count answers.

3. Factory: where is each product made and filled?

4. Owner: who holds the shares?

Also ask which company holds the responsible-sales registration. None of the answers is bad in itself. They are different facts, and a supplier can be Korean on one and not on another.

What This Says About the K-Beauty Label

The jump from 97 to 304 shows that more people from abroad are running Korean cosmetics companies. It does not show who owns them, where they make their products or who benefits from support programs. A foreign CEO may run a Korean-owned firm, and a Korean CEO may run a foreign-owned one.

As support programs grow, the question moves from "who counts as Korean" to "what is the support for": factories, brands, jobs or exports. MTN's data does not answer that. It shows that the passport count is the easiest thing to measure, and the easiest to misread.