November 29, 2024

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SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won (left) and Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon (provided by each company)

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won recently discussed metaverse cooperation with Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon in bidding efforts to host the World Expo 2030 in Busan, according to industry sources Tuesday.

Chey visited Naver’s recently built headquarters 1784 in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, to meet the IT giant’s leader last month. The exact date of his visit was undisclosed, as the visit and the meeting took place unexpectedly, SK and Naver officials said.

Chey who doubles as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is the co-chair of South Korea’s bidding committee for the World Expo 2030. The SK group chief has been actively meeting with foreign officials and business leaders across the world to gain international support for Busan.

According to sources, Chey saw the window of opportunity to conduct promotional activities on Naver’s metaverse platform Zepeto to increase Busan’s chances to host the World Expo. SK Telecom operates its own metaverse platform ifland, but most of its users are Koreans, as the service has not gone global.

Zepeto announced in March that the number of registered users reached 300 million, with 95 percent of them being international users. The metaverse platform’s number of monthly active users logged 20 million. Launched in 2018, Zepeto is available in more than 200 countries including South Korea, China, Japan and the US.

Neither SK nor Naver confirmed any details from the two leaders' discussion on how the two companies may cooperate moving forward.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)