Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong Visits Japan: "The More Friends, the Better"

Chairman Lee Attending Korea-Japan Business Roundtable,
Suggests Cooperation with Japan on US Semiconductor Regulations

On the 17th, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who attended the Korea-Japan Business Roundtable held at Keidanren in Tokyo, Japan, said, "From experience, the more friends you have, the better, and the fewer enemies you have, the better."

During the event held at the Keidanren Hall in Tokyo, Chairman Lee responded this way to a question about whether Korea and Japan could cooperate to respond to the U.S. semiconductor subsidy regulations.

At the Korea-Japan Business Roundtable held on the 17th at the Tokyo Keidanren Hall, Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group (from the left), Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, and Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, are applauding after President Yoon Suk-yeol finished his speech.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

At the Business Roundtable, on the Korean side, there were 12 business leaders including Kim Byung-joon, acting chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Kim Yoon, chairman of the Korea-Japan Economic Association, Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, and the FKI chairman group. On the Japanese side, 11 business leaders attended, including Masakazu Tokura, chairman of Keidanren, and Mikio Sasaki, chairman of the Japan-Korea Economic Association. Japanese companies represented included Sumitomo, Mitsui, Hitachi, Marubeni, Toray, Nomura Holdings, and Mitsubishi Corporation.

President Yoon met with Korean and Japanese economic figures and said, "The governments of both countries will spare no support to ensure that you can exchange freely and create innovative business opportunities." This is the first time in 14 years that a Korean president has attended a Korea-Japan business event since the Korea-Japan Economic Leaders Meeting held during President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Japan in June 2009. However, the anticipated joint attendance of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida did not materialize. Representatives from Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, defendants in the forced labor compensation lawsuit, also did not attend.