The appointment, part of the group's regular executive reshuffle for 2027, puts Chung on course to return to the management of E-Mart, South Korea's largest discount-store chain, 13 years after he stepped down as a registered director in March 2013.
Chung will share leadership of E-Mart with Kim Hong-geuk, currently CEO of Shinsegae Casa, who has also been tapped to head the group's online shopping platform SSG.com.
The appointments will require approval through the relevant corporate procedures, including a shareholders' meeting.
Chung had announced plans in June to take direct responsibility for E-Mart and Shinsegae Property following criticism that he exercised substantial influence over group companies without serving as a registered director accountable to shareholders.
The management overhaul also includes changes at SCK Company, the operator of Starbucks Korea, which has struggled to recover from a promotional campaign that drew accusations of trivializing two defining episodes in South Korea's democratic history.
SCK Company has established a new digital management division and an information security center to strengthen oversight of marketing content, digital platforms and internal approval procedures.
The company has also consolidated its operations divisions and reorganized its beverage, food and merchandise development functions to streamline decision-making.
The changes follow a controversy that erupted on May 18, the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising, when Starbucks Korea promoted a tumbler discount event using the phrase "Tank Day."
The wording provoked outrage because it coincided with the commemoration of the military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju, during which hundreds of civilians were killed.
The promotional material also featured the phrase "with a thud on the desk," which critics said evoked the police's notorious explanation for the death of student activist Park Jong-chol in 1987. Police initially claimed that Park had suddenly died after an officer struck a desk during questioning, concealing the fact that he had been tortured to death.
The controversy triggered calls for a Starbucks boycott, with consumers posting videos of themselves destroying Starbucks merchandise and civic organizations in Gwangju staging protests against the company.
The commercial repercussions have continued for months.
According to BC Card transaction data obtained by Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Jung-a and released on Oct. 12, Starbucks sales through the card provider fell 23.5 percent in the week immediately following the controversy compared with the preceding week.
Sales declined year-on-year in 19 of the 20 weeks examined following the incident.
During Oct. 1-7, transaction sales were 11.7 percent lower than in the corresponding period a year earlier and 4.9 percent below the May 11-17 period immediately preceding the controversy.
The figures cover transactions processed by BC Card rather than Starbucks Korea's total revenue, and do not independently establish how much of the decline was caused by the boycott.
The broader Shinsegae reshuffle extends beyond Starbucks.
E-Mart and Shinsegae's hotel businesses have strengthened their information security organizations, while convenience-store chain E-Mart24 has established dedicated compliance and information security units.
The group has also appointed Choi Taek-won, previously CEO of SSG.com, to oversee management support functions, including personnel and auditing, while Park Seung-hak has been named head of external relations.
Hur Min-ho, a former CEO of beauty and health retailer CJ Olive Young, has been recruited to lead Shinsegae Casa.
The conglomerate promoted 36 employees to executive positions, while the proportion of executives in their 40s reached a record 18 percent, reflecting a broader generational shift in management.
Shinsegae said the appointments were intended to address pressing business challenges, strengthen its core retail operations and accelerate expansion into artificial intelligence, lifestyle, content and entertainment businesses.
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