Lee’s visit comes after Seoul emerged as the latest target of Trump’s tariff offensive, with the U.S. president warning overnight on social media of sweeping tariff hikes to 25 percent on South Korean exports, citing delays in Korea’s National Assembly approving a bilateral trade agreement reached last year.
Lee is scheduled to host a gala on Jan. 28 (local time) tied to a special exhibition of his late father and group chairman Lee Kun-hee’s art collection at Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (NMAA) in Washington D.C. before this week's closing. Among the VIPs are U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as well as other key figures from Congress, White House and business circle.
The entire Lee family will be there, mother Hong Ra-hee, honorary director of the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art; sisters Lee Boo-jin, president of Hotel Shilla; and Lee Seo-hyun, president of Samsung C&T.
The gathering comes at a sensitive time. Lutnick oversees the Trump administration’s tariff policy.
Attendance could be affected by weather conditions. Heavy snowfall in the U.S. East forced the Smithsonian Institution to temporarily close all museum facilities on Jan. 25 and 26.
The gala marks the successful launch of what organizers describe as the largest exhibition of Korean antiquities in North America in more than 40 years, highlighting the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s cultural vision. “Korea’s Treasures: Collecting, Cherishing, Sharing,” the first overseas touring exhibition of donated works, opened on Dec. 15 for run through Feb. 1.
The exhibition is drawn from more than 23,000 works donated to the government in 2021 by the family of the late Kun-hee Lee, the longtime chairman of Samsung. Lee was best known as the business leader who transformed Samsung Electronics into one of the world’s leading electronics companies, but at home in Korea he was also known as a devoted art collector.
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