The seaweed processing industry in Korea has developed since the late of 1970s, motivated by exports of salted seaweed to the Japan market. However, due to the keen competition of Korean salted and dried seaweed with chinese products in the japan market, exports of Korean seaweed have been in the decreasing. It also has promoted the restructuring of the seaweed processing industry itself as follows: first, the processing type has been changed from the slated seaweed processing to the dried seaweed processing. Second, domestic markets for seaweed have been significantly expanded. This study is aimed to investigate some problems that the seaweed processing industry currently faces and to provide responding strategies for its development by analyzing a background, characteristics, and business types in the Wando region of Jeollanamdo that is a primary region of the seaweed processing industry in Korea. The background that the seaweed processing industry in Wando region could be started and developed is that first, small and mid-size salted seaweed processing companies have grown fast due to the exports to the japan market. Second, various business conditions, including seaweed materials, labors that are very important factors for the seaweed processing were more suitable compared to other regions. As characteristics of the seaweed processing industry, it shows that small-scale companies have a larger decreasing rate in sales and over 85% companies process seaweed together with other materials such as kelp, etc. The biggest problem that the seaweed processing industry has is that it has not timely responded to changes in domestic and international markets. Therefore, it is very important to cope with market changes by both introducing an aquaculture outlook service for seaweed and promoting higher value-added products and demands through publicities.