NEW YORK — An event supporting South Korea's startup ecosystem is set to take place in the heart of Manhattan.
Jung Se-ju, chairman of United Korean Founders (UKF), held a press briefing in Manhattan on the 29th to explain the significance of KOOM Week 2026, which runs from Oct. 12 to 18.
"Many Korean founders struggle a great deal because they lack a global network even as they need to move their businesses forward," the chairman said. "I have been in the United States for 21 years and am already established here, so I am using that social capital to bring talent together for younger founders." UKF is a nonprofit organization set up to nurture the Korean startup ecosystem with North America as its base.
The KOOM festival began in 2019 in San Francisco as a small networking event for Korean founders, gradually expanded in scale and has been held in New York since last year.
This year's speakers include the chairman; Yoo Hyun-joon, a professor of architecture at Hongik University; Tim Hwang, founder of FiscalNote; Charlotte Cho, co-founder of Soko Glam; and Jung Sae-ra, chief executive officer of Landing International. They will give talks on the direction to take in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) and on business know-how. Various side events, including founder networking sessions and exchanges between Korean and U.S. universities, are also planned across Manhattan during the event period.
