GSC, Seoul Global Center, KOTRA: three foreigner-facing doors, and which one is yours
외국인 창업지원 기관 비교
Three Korean bodies advertise support to foreign founders in English, and all three say the word visa. They answer to different ministries and solve different problems: GSC is a startup campus in Gangnam, Seoul Global Center is the city settlement centre in Jongno, and KOTRA's Invest KOREA exists for inbound investment.
Search "startup support for foreigners in Korea" and you meet three organisations that all publish in English, all mention visas, and all offer office space of some kind.
They are not competitors and they are not interchangeable. They answer to different parts of government, and the difference decides whether your email gets a useful reply or a polite redirect.
GSC: the startup campus
The Global Startup Center describes itself as Korea's premier campus for tech-focused international entrepreneurs. It sits at 165 Yeoksam-ro in Gangnam.
Its published programme list is the most founder-shaped of the three:
- 2026 OASIS Programs
- Global Startup Office, with 24-hour access
- Korea Special Startup Visa, for foreign founders
- 2026 Global Startup Commercialization Support Program
- GSC Office Hours, 1 expert matching
- Special naturalisation for outstanding private-sector talent
It also lists consulting on visas, incorporation and patents, and runs a newsletter it says reaches over four thousand startups.
Seoul Global Center: the settlement centre that also teaches OASIS-5
The Seoul Global Center opened in 2008 as a living-support centre for foreigners living in Seoul, and that remains its centre of gravity. It is a city body, not a national one.
Its startup arm is narrower than GSC's but real: it runs OASIS-5, the startup coaching and mentoring course, and offers professional consulting across legal, corporate, tax, management, labour, visa, property and patent questions.
Its shared office, meeting rooms and lecture rooms are not open access. They are for founders who completed its intellectual-property and business-support programmes with outstanding performance.
KOTRA and Invest KOREA: the investment door
Invest KOREA describes itself as a platform for attracting foreign investment, operating under KOTRA. Its audience is a company bringing money into Korea, not a founder seeking money in Korea.
That audience shows in what it publishes: investment-process guidance, online consulting, living information covering health, education, visa and banking, professional networks of law and accounting firms, cost calculators for labour, insurance and rent, regional information across all 17 provinces, and IKP office rental.
| GSC | Seoul Global Center | KOTRA / Invest KOREA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers to | Ministry of SMEs and Startups side | Seoul Metropolitan Government | Trade and investment promotion |
| Primary job | Startup campus for foreign founders | Settlement support for foreign residents | Attracting inbound investment |
| Location | 165 Yeoksam-ro, Gangnam | Jongno, near Jonggak | Nationwide, plus 17 regional desks |
| OASIS | Runs OASIS programmes | Runs OASIS-5 | None |
| Space | Global Startup Office, 24-hour access | Shared office by programme performance | IKP office rental for investors |
Frequently asked questions
- Which body should a foreign founder contact first?
- If you are building a startup and want visa points, the Global Startup Center in Gangnam. It runs OASIS programmes, the Korea Special Startup Visa route and a commercialisation support programme, and it publishes in English.
- What is the Seoul Global Center for, then?
- Settlement first. It opened in 2008 as a living-support centre for foreigners in Seoul, in Jongno. Its startup arm runs OASIS-5 (startup coaching and mentoring) and free professional consulting across legal, corporate, tax, labour, visa, property and patent questions.
- Is KOTRA a startup body?
- No. KOTRA is the trade and investment promotion agency, and its Invest KOREA arm exists to attract foreign investment into Korea. Going there for a startup grant is the wrong door unless you are bringing investment in.
- Do any of them overlap?
- On visas, yes — all three publish visa-adjacent information, which is why search results merge them. On money they barely overlap at all: startup grants, city settlement services and inbound investment are three different budgets.
- Can I get office space from any of them?
- All three list space, on different terms. GSC advertises a Global Startup Office with 24-hour access; Seoul Global Center offers shared office, meeting and lecture rooms to founders who completed its programmes with outstanding performance; Invest KOREA rents IKP office space to incoming investors.
- Where is the Global Startup Center?
- 165 Yeoksam-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on +82 2-3440-7346. The Seoul Global Center is across the river in Jongno, near Jonggak station.
Sources
- Global Startup Center (startup-korea.com) — self-description, programme list, address and contact — read 2026-09-01
- Invest KOREA (investkorea.org) — KOTRA relationship, service list, IKP office rental — read 2026-09-01
- Seoul Global Center startup support — OASIS-5, consulting categories, shared office eligibility — read 2026-09-01
- 서울글로벌센터, Korean Wikipedia — 2008 opening, living-support remit — read 2026-09-01
- 서울외국인포털 (global.seoul.go.kr) — landing reached; centre detail pages returned a system error on the day of reading — read 2026-09-01
Everything above is the rule as published. See how it applies to your case.