Lunch with Mirae Asset, Naver chiefs to be auctioned

Mirae Asset Financial Group founder and Chairman Park Hyeon-joo will sit down with the younger generation to better communicate with them at a private luncheon to be held in Seoul on Dec. 11, the Federation of Korean Industries said Tuesday.

Earlier in May, the business lobby invited Hyundai Motor Group Chief Executive Chung Euisun along with car-sharing company SoCar CEO Park Jae-uk and TV celebrity Noh Hong-chul to take part in the event, akin to Warren Buffett's famous annual charity lunch.

For this auction, Chairman Park will be joined by fellow business mogul Choi Soo-yeon, the young innovative female leader of South Korean internet giant Naver.

“The attendees from the last event were greatly inspired through in-person lunch with their business role models. By continuing to organize such charity events unique to FKI, we will strive for better communication with our future generation to support the pursuit of their aspirations,” stated Lee Sang-yoon, the head of FKI's corporate social responsibility division.

The upcoming lunch will invite a total of 20 people from the “MZ generation," a term that refers collectively to millennials, born in the early 1980s to early 1990s, and Generation Z, born in the mid-1990s to early 2000s.

Interested individuals must submit their applications to the FKI via its official website before Nov. 19.

As the event aims to encourage members of society to give back through community service, individuals are required to hand in a talent donation plan whose feasibility and novelty will be assessed for selection, rather than bidding for the lunches with money, FKI explained.

The exact venue for the luncheon has not been announced.

Having founded Mirae Asset Financial Group in 1997, Park has laid the groundwork for the group’s overseas expansion in the field of investment and brokerage businesses.

Through the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation, the chairman has been raising scholarship funds to foster future talent in the financial sector over the last 13 years.