News that Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong was spotted at a shopping mall in Beijing has drawn attention locally.
According to the Chinese outlet Jimu News on the 6th, Lee toured the JD Mall in Beijing the previous day. Citing a staffer at the JD Mall's furniture section, Jimu News said Lee arrived at the mall around 2 p.m. with six to seven people, including aides and an interpreter.
JD Mall is the offline shopping mall of JD.com, a leading e-commerce company in China. The JD Mall Beijing Shuangjing store that Lee toured opened last year.
Photos of Lee touring the mall spread quickly on Weibo and elsewhere. The photos show Lee in a suit looking around the mall. The phrase "Samsung leader Lee Jae-yong bought Laobubu" even climbed the real-time search rankings on Baidu, China's largest portal site.
Samsung Electronics said, "It is true that Lee visited the mall, but he did not purchase Laobubu," adding, "He visited the mall to look over home appliances."
Lee accompanied President Lee Jae-myung on his state visit to China as part of a business delegation. At the Korea-China Business Forum held in Beijing on the 5th, a large number of business figures from both countries attended, including Lee; SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won; Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun; and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, the heads of Korea's four largest conglomerates.