Chey Tae-won, SK Group chairman; Lee Jae-myung, Samsung Electronics chairman; and Koo Kwang-mo, LG Group chairman, who accompanied the business delegation formed for the first time in six years since 2019 on the occasion of President Lee Jae-myung's state visit to China, returned on the 6th after a three-day, two-night schedule.
Chey returned through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center (SGBAC) in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, at about 8:35 p.m. on this day. Having departed for China on the 4th leading the business delegation in his capacity as KORCHAM chairman, Chey wrapped up events including the Korea-China Business Forum the previous day and returned after three days. It has been more than six years since the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry assembled a business delegation to China, following the Korea-China-Japan summit by former President Moon Jae-in in Dec. 2019.
The business forum held at Diaoyutai in Beijing was the first Korea-China businesspersons' event in about eight years since Dec. 2017. From Korea, more than 200 business figures participated, including the heads of the four major groups—Chairman Chey, Chairman Lee, Chairman Koo and Chairman Chung Eui-sun of Hyundai Motor Group.
From the Chinese side, attendees included Li Dongsheng, chairman of TCL Technology Group, a manufacturing corporation focused on TVs, home appliances and displays, and Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and ESS. Wang Jianyou, chairman of LANCY, an apparel corporation; Liu Yong, vice chairman of Tencent, a mobile messenger and gaming corporation; and Xu Ziyang, chairman of ZTE, a telecommunications equipment and smartphone corporation, also joined.
In business circles, expectations are rising that economic cooperation between Korea and China could become more active through this meeting between businesspeople of the two countries. In opening remarks at the forum, Chey said, "When discussing the direction of Korea-China relations, people often use the expression 'qiutong cunyi' ('seek common ground while reserving differences')," adding, "I hope this will be an opportunity for leading businesspeople of the two countries to find good avenues for growth together beyond their differences."
Amid supply chain risks coming to the fore during the U.S.-China hegemonic competition, the delegation is expected to have sought ways for economic cooperation between Korea and China surrounding key industries such as semiconductors and batteries in meetings with major Chinese corporate figures.
Samsung Electronics currently operates a NAND flash production plant in Xi'an and a semiconductor back-end (packaging) plant in Suzhou, while SK hynix runs a DRAM plant in Wuxi, a NAND packaging plant in Chongqing, and a NAND plant in Dalian. Hyundai Motor and Kia also each operate production plants in Beijing and Yancheng, and LG Energy Solution runs a plant in Nanjing.
Ahead of Chey, Lee and Koo also returned separately that afternoon. Chung was said to have left China directly for a business trip to the United States to attend CES 2026, the world's largest IT and home appliance exhibition, in Las Vegas.