President Lee Jae-myung, on a visit to San Francisco, held a beer dinner featuring burgers, fish and chips, and other dishes with global artificial intelligence (AI) leaders including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Oct. 24 (local time). Earlier, when Huang visited South Korea last year, he stopped by "Kkanbu Chicken" for a "chi-maek" (chicken and beer) gathering with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun.
President Lee, Huang, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, Microsoft President Rani Borkar, along with big tech chiefs including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun, and Naver board Chairman Lee Hae-jin, gathered for a dinner featuring fish and chips as well as fried calamari, crab cakes, and clam chowder. Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, said, "Through the scene of global AI leaders rallying around President Lee at the dinner, we can imprint upon the world South Korea's elevated AI stature as a key hub in the global AI supply chain and emphasize the AI vision of an 'irreplaceable Korea.'"
When local favorites such as fish and chips were served, President Lee joked to Huang, who had fallen for chi-maek during the so-called "Kkanbu gathering," saying, "You'll probably want chicken." He added, "In our country, we call family members 'sikgu.' We say family is people who eat rice together," and proposed, "When I say 'uri-neun (we are),' please respond with 'sikgu-da (we are family).'" Huang responded, "We are family," and all attendees loudly shouted "sikgu-da" together while clinking their beer bottles.
When President Lee then said, "Deputy Prime Minister (Bae Kyung-hoon) says he will pay for the meal," attendees expressed gratitude with words like "thank you" and "I love that." Huang then asked, "Can I have one more beer?" and offered to "buy beer for everyone here (in the shop)," prompting President Lee to draw laughter by saying, "As a public official, I can't allow that."
