Shinsegae Inc. Chairman Chung Yong-jin has been observed strengthening ties with Donald Trump Jr., underscoring the South Korean retail tycoon’s unusually close access to the US president’s inner circle.
According to people familiar with the matter, Chung was seen dining with Trump Jr. at a luxury hotel in Spain in recent days.
Also present at the dinner was Omeed Malik, who co-founded venture capital firm 1789 Capital with Trump Jr. and has become a key figure in conservative finance circles.
The latest encounter builds on a 15-year relationship between Chung and Trump Jr.
The two first met at a Korean media event in 2010 and quickly bonded over shared interests and personal convictions, according to associates.
Their ties continued even during Donald Trump’s years out of office, when Trump Jr. remained active in business and politics.
Chung traveled to the US last December at Trump Jr.’s invitation and became the first senior figure from Korea’s political and business community to secure a meeting with the then president-elect.
Trump Jr. later made a reciprocal trip to Seoul to meet Korean entrepreneurs at Chung’s invitation.
CHUNG: UNOFFICIAL ENVOY FOR CORPORATE KOREA
In May, when President Trump embarked on a Middle East tour, Chung was the only Korean business leader to attend the state banquet hosted in Doha by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, effectively serving as an unofficial envoy from corporate Korea.
Malik’s presence at the dinner in Spain has fueled speculation that Chung is exploring broader collaboration linked to 1789 Capital, which champions a staunchly conservative, anti-ESG investment philosophy.
Chung and Malik are understood to have grown close through the Rockbridge Network, a US political fundraising organization.
Chung serves as the group’s newly appointed Asia chairman, a role through which the initial blueprint for 1789 Capital’s expansion into the region is said to have taken shape.
Industry executives say the increasingly public relationship between Chung and Trump Jr. signals a strategic alignment that could influence Korean corporate engagement with the US administration, while giving Shinsegae rare access to a powerful and polarizing political family.
