President Lee has brisket lunch at Samsung cafeteria; Lee Jae-yong says, “Gwangju will move faster with the president personally overseeing it”

[Financial News] Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong said over a brisket lunch with President Lee Jae-myung on the 12th, “Gwangju seems likely to move forward faster with the president personally overseeing it.”
According to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kim Seong-wan, President Lee went to the cafeteria that day after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Chungcheong region mega-project and the fourth public-private joint inspection meeting at Samsung Electronics’ Onyang Campus in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. Chairman Lee welcomed President Lee at the cafeteria entrance and introduced the menu, including brisket, multigrain rice and doenjang stew. President Lee picked up a tray and got his food himself, then sat down with nine employee representatives.
Before the meal, Chairman Lee expressed his thanks regarding the groundbreaking for the Onyang plant, saying, “We drastically shortened what would have taken at least eight months and held the groundbreaking ceremony today,” before mentioning the Gwangju project. President Lee praised Samsung’s investment and ability to execute.
At the national briefing on the three mega-projects last June, Chairman Lee proposed Gwangju as a candidate site for a new memory semiconductor plant. The government later decided to build a semiconductor industrial complex for the Honam region on the site of Gwangju’s military airport. The advanced packaging plant for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) in Onyang, which broke ground that day, is aiming to begin operations in June 2028.
Skilled workers at semiconductor sites also came up during lunch. When Kim Ju-woo, an employee on Samsung Electronics’ Yield Stabilization Team, introduced himself as the first master craftsman in HBM mass production, President Lee asked, “So can high school graduates become master craftsmen too?” Kim replied, “High school graduates from Meister high schools do their jobs well and are also good at handling AI.”
After the meal, President Lee asked, “The food is so good. Is it always this good?” The employees replied, “It’s usually even better, but today’s meal is actually on the modest side.”
Toward the end of lunch, a Samsung representative said it was difficult to find pipefitters for construction sites. President Lee instructed presidential chief of staff Lim Gwang-hyeon to look into ways to train pipefitters. 

[email protected] Seong Seok-woo Reporter