Murdoch meets with LG, Samsung executives

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- Rupert Murdoch, head of media heavyweight News Corp.,
has met top executives of LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to
discuss cooperation with the South Korean tech giants, sources said Thursday.
News Corp. is widely seen as looking for business opportunities in the rapidly
changing South Korean media market after recent government deregulation cleared
the way for newspapers to break into broadcasting.
LG Electronics said that Murdoch had met with LG's chief executive officer Nam
Yong and chief technology officer Paik Woo-hyun on Wednesday to discuss "business
matters." LG declined to comment further on the meeting.
Earlier Wednesday, Murdock had a meeting with Lee Jae-yong, the heir apparent and
son of the former Samsung chairman, sources said. The two were believed to have
talked about broadband TV business in the local market.
Samsung press officials declined to confirm.
Murdoch had unsuccessfully attempted to launch a business in South Korea's
broadcasting industry in early 2000. The government recently eased rules on the
ownership of broadcasting channels by foreign investors and print media outlets,
which may have drawn Murdoch's interest, market watchers said.
His rare visit to South Korea, the first in about a decade, is a brief two-day
stopover after his Dow Jones-organized conference in Japan.
Murdoch plans to leave for China later Thursday to attend the World Media Summit
after visiting the truce village of Panmunjeom inside the Demilitarized Zone
separating South and North Korea.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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