Zuckerberg Meets LG Executives for 'Bibimbap Gathering'..."Loves Korean Food"

Meeting with LG Electronics CEO Jo Ju-wan and others over lunch
Meal with Korean dishes like Bibimbap
"I often visit Korean restaurants in the US West Coast"

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, who leads the company, visited South Korea for the first time in about 9 years and 4 months, stirring excitement in the IT industry with expectations for cooperation related to artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR).

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is arriving in Seoul through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu on the 27th. Visiting Korea for the first time in 10 years, CEO Zuckerberg is expected to meet President Yoon Suk-yeol and discuss AI semiconductor cooperation plans with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and LG Electronics CEO Cho Joo-wan during his 1-night, 2-day stay. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

According to industry sources on the 28th, Zuckerberg, who arrived in Korea the previous night, visited the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, Seoul during the day and met with Kwon Bong-seok, LG Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Cho Joo-wan, LG Electronics CEO, and Park Hyung-se, President of the HE Business Division, to discuss XR business strategies and next-generation device development. This visit marks Zuckerberg’s first trip to Korea since October 2014.

The meeting took place in a VIP meeting room prepared inside the LG Twin Towers and lasted about two hours, including lunch. The lunch menu featured Korean dishes such as bibimbap.

After the meeting, CEO Cho Joo-wan told reporters, "Zuckerberg likes our food," adding, "He often visits Korean restaurants on the U.S. West Coast, so he is accustomed to Korean cuisine. Today, he ordered bibimbap and noodles and enjoyed the bibimbap very much."

Most of Zuckerberg’s two-night, three-day schedule and itinerary remain under wraps, drawing intense public interest. Around 12:23 PM, Zuckerberg arrived at the underground parking lot of the LG Twin Towers, stepping out of a black large van wearing the same brown mustang jacket he wore upon arrival the previous day.

He did not answer reporters’ questions about what kind of cooperation Meta and LG are pursuing or his thoughts on Korean AI semiconductors, instead heading straight to the elevator to the lunch venue.

After the lunch meeting with LG, Zuckerberg left the LG Twin Towers around 2:15 PM by van and reportedly moved to Meta Korea located in Centerfield, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. There, he is said to have met privately with domestic XR startup developers.

Zuckerberg is scheduled to pay a courtesy visit to President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 29th. Although there have been speculations about a possible meeting with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, no specific schedule has been disclosed.

Prior to this, Zuckerberg visited Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister’s residence in Tokyo the evening before and then flew to Korea by chartered plane. Wearing a brown mustang jacket, Zuckerberg appeared at the arrival hall with his wife, Priscilla Chan, smiling brightly and waving to the press.

However, he did not respond to reporters’ questions such as "Do you have plans to meet Chairman Lee Jae-yong?" or "What will you discuss with President Yoon Suk-yeol?"

During his visit to Japan, Zuckerberg also attracted attention by posting a photo on Facebook of himself and his wife visiting McDonald’s. Wearing sunglasses, Zuckerberg posed holding a hamburger and wrote, "Japanese McDonald’s deserves a perfect 10 out of 10. They should be awarded a Michelin star."