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Shinsegae chairman, SM Group chief score invites to Trump inauguration

Published: 08 Jan. 2025, 17:24

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

U.S. President Donald Trump, center, meets with Korean business leaders at a meeting at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on June. 30. [AP/YONHAP]

Heads of Korea’s major retail, heavy industry and food and beverage (F&B) firms, including those of Shinsegae and SM Group, will attend U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, local reports and industry officials said Wednesday.

Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin will be present at Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, and is so far is the only business executive confirmed to be attending the presidential inaugural ball, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The official inaugural ball takes place on the evening of the inauguration and requires an invitation from the hosting Presidential Inaugural Committee or other prominent officials, such as those of the Republican Party. Trump held two official balls for the 2017 inauguration and an invite-only Salute to our Armed Services Ball. The committee had not released information about an official ball as of press time.

Chung was invited to an official ball by Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., whom he met with in December at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, according to local reports. The Shinsegae Chairman said he had shared a meal and had “in-depth conversations” with the elder Trump during his stay.

Other invited business leaders include Woo Oh-hyun, chairman of construction and shipping conglomerate SM Group; Hur Young-in, chairman of bakery franchise SPC Group; and Ryu Jin, chairman of Poongsan Group and the Federation of Korean Industries.

SPC said in a news release Wednesday that the chairman plans to attend the inauguration ceremony and later network with members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives who are interested in Korea’s economy.

Hur and SM Group Chairman Woo have both met the President-elect on separate occasions. Woo attended Trump’s first inauguration ceremony in 2017 while Hur saw Trump at a meeting for business executives in Korea in 2019.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]