South Korea Launches Mass Entrepreneurship Program as 5,000 Selected From 63,000 Applicants South Korea’s largest government-backed startup initiative has officially kicked off, with 5,000 participants chosen from a pool of 63,000 applicants to begin a structured entrepreneurship program backed by both public and private resources.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the inaugural launch ceremony for Modoo Changup — loosely translated as “Startup for all” — at Startup & Venture Campus Seoul (SVC Seoul). Minister Han Sung-sook presided over the event, which drew around 120 attendees including selected participants, mentoring organizations, and veteran entrepreneurs. Alongside the main ceremony in Seoul, simultaneous events were held across all 17 cities and provinces nationwide, with the proceedings broadcast live on YouTube.
The program drew 63,000 applications in total, resulting in a competition ratio of 12.6 to one. The 5,000 selected participants will receive a package of support covering the full arc of the startup journey, including professional mentoring, startup activity funding, AI solutions, and regulatory pre-screening — provided jointly by the government and private sector partners. At the launch ceremony, Kwon Do-kyun, CEO of Primer and one of the program’s lead mentors, delivered an assessment of the selection process.
The most valuable asset he observed among applicants, he said, was their determination to see things through to the end. He added that the mentor team would provide close, stage-by-stage support to help participants achieve successful launches. One selected participant, who proposed a personal finance calculator service, said fear of failure had long kept her from pursuing entrepreneurship. Being able to take the leap with just an idea gave her the confidence to try, she said, and she pledged to complete the program and prove herself through tangible results.
Following the main ceremony, regional orientation sessions were held simultaneously across all 17 provinces. Participants received a roadmap of upcoming support programs and held their first networking sessions with their assigned mentoring organizations, marking the start of the business development phase. The roughly 58,000 applicants who were not selected in the first cohort will be offered a re-challenge mentoring program. Those who refine and resubmit their ideas ahead of the second cohort will also receive preferential treatment in the evaluation process, including bonus points.
Minister Han said the government and private sector would work as one team to support all 5,000 participants through every stage of their startup journey, with the ambition of seeing them grow beyond Korea onto the global stage. The goal, she said, is to build a truly dynamic entrepreneurship ecosystem and establish Korea as a genuine startup nation.
Applications for the second cohort of Modoo Changup are set to open in early July, with eligibility requirements expected to be loosened to broaden access. Further details will be available at the program’s official website at www.modoo.or.kr
