Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Jung Yong-jin is ‘Madangbal’.
It is gorgeous enough to be able to categorize personal connections into politics, economy, sports, and popular culture. It is evaluated that this is the result of the entanglement of Vice Chairman Chung’s unique sociability, loyalty, and sense of humor. Also, in examining the personal connections of Vice Chairman Chung, a well-known Chinese food expert, the media of ‘cooking’ and ‘food’ are attracting attention.
In the economic field, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Jeong Tae-young, Daelim Group Chairman Lee Hae-wook, Naver Global Investment Officer (GIO) Hae-jin Hae-jin, Kakao Board Chairman Kim Beom-soo, NCsoft CEO Kim Taek-jin, and Daelim Group CEO Park Seon-jung are representative networks. is regarded as In particular, he is a ‘best friend’ with Vice Chairman Jeong Tae-young, who is 61 years old. This is because their hobbies and specialties are in common: cooking. They often meet and cook together. Once, Vice Chairman Jeong Tae-young had Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-jin taste the soybean paste ramen made with his own recipe, and with this, E-Mart and Hyundai Card launched ‘Doenjang Ramen with Jeong’ as a real product. Although Chairman Lee Hae-wook is of the same age as Vice Chairman Chung, who was born in 1968, Vice Chairman Chung is known to respect Chairman Lee, who is one year senior at Gyeongbokgung.
Vice-Chairman Jeong is like a friend of the same age with GIO Lee Hae-jin, Chairman Kim Beom-su, and CEO Kim Taek-jin. Earlier this year, Vice Chairman Chung Hae-jin, E-Mart CEO Kang Hee-seok, visited the Naver headquarters in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do to meet GIO Lee Hae-jin. The two people, who have a common enemy, Coupang, formed a de facto alliance based on the conversation that day. Accordingly, E-Mart is strengthening cooperation with Naver by launching the first product of ‘Life’s Restaurant’, which is a brand of famous restaurants across the country.
Vice Chairman Jung invites his favorite friends to the ‘YONGENIUS Kitchen’, a private cooking studio in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, and enjoys serving dishes prepared at the level of a luxury hotel by himself. Vice Chairman Chung is said to be the most passionate about the private meeting called ‘Jung Woo-hoe (Jung Yong-jin and Friends)’. It is said that Jung Woo-hoe, formed by businessmen and journalists who were born in the mid-to-late 1960s, gathers at this cooking studio to taste the dishes that Vice-President Jeong has polished and build friendships.
Major sports stars such as Park Chan-ho, American major leaguer, Park Ji-sung, British Premier League, professional golfer Ahn Seong-hyeon, ‘billiard ulzzang’ Cha Yu-ram, and SSG Landers players Choo Shin-su, Park Jong-hoon, and Moon Seung-won were invited to the studio. After tasting Chung’s sweet and sour pork dishes in October, Park Jong-hoon responded, “All the sweet and sour pork I’ve eaten for 31 years was fake.” The relationship with Cha Yoo-ram is also interesting. Vice-Chairman Jeong said that he became close by inviting the couple to this studio after being taught how to read by Lee Ji-seong, who is Cha’s husband and bestselling author.
Among celebrities, actors Bae Yong-jun and Lee Jin-wook, broadcasters Lee Seung-gi and Noh Hong-cheol, and DJ Soda are guests who have visited a cooking studio or have a relationship with Vice Chairman Chung. After eating Vice Chairman Chung’s food recently, Noh Hong-cheol praised him, saying, “It’s the day my tongue went to an amusement park,” and said, “It’s better than the rice my mother made.”
Baek Jong-won, a broadcaster and businessman, and Jung Jun-ho, an actor who has a knack for cooking, are also known to have naturally become close friends with Vice Chairman Jeong through cooking and food. At the end of last year, Baek appeared on a TV program and called Vice-Chairman Jeong to sell 30 tons of ugly potatoes, the price of which has plummeted and the commercial value has declined. Vice Chairman Chung readily said, “I will try my best. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll eat it all.” On this day, when Mr. Baek introduced Vice-Chairman Jeong as “a person who likes to boil pork feet,” Vice-President Jeong said, “It’s a good weather to boil pork feet,” causing laughter from viewers.
By Kim Man-yong, staff reporter mykim@munhwa.com
