With Europe emerging as a key market in the global expansion of K-culture, Chairman Lee Jay-Hyun visited London to meet with several key industry players and strengthen partnerships
CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-Hyun visited London to explore opportunities to expand the company’s business in Europe and to secure new drivers of future growth. Following trips to other countries earlier this year, Chairman Lee’s latest visit to Europe underscores his determination to accelerate CJ’s push into new regions in the global market.
On September 9, Lee traveled to London accompanied by key executives from CJ Group and its affiliates. Among them were CJ Vice Chairwoman Miky Lee, CJ CEO Kim Hong-ki, CJ ENM CEO Yoon Sang-hyun and President of Content and Global Business for CJ ENM Pious Jung.
Lee began his on-site management tours last year with a visit to Saudi Arabia, followed this year by trips to Japan in April and the U.S. in August. His latest stop in Europe marks the first time he has engaged in on-site management in the region, underscoring the strategic importance of Europe in CJ Group’s global expansion efforts.
“It is critical that we accelerate our global expansion. We must not miss the rapid expansion of the Korean Wave — Hallyu — across Europe,” Lee emphasized during a meeting with local employees. “By securing an early foothold in local markets, we should aim to rise as a top-tier pan-European player. Europe should be our next strategic focus after the U.S.”
During his latest tour, Lee met with key figures from global think tanks, investment firms and entertainment businesses to explore local collaboration opportunities, study European consumer trends and K-culture dynamics and review the group’s global strategy.
Lee first met with Len Blavatnik, founder of the global investment firm Access Industries, to discuss current global media and entertainment markets and to collaborate on expanding K-content’s reach and strengthening platform competitiveness. Access Industries, which owns Warner Music Group and sports streaming service DAZN, has been actively expanding its influence in the global media market.
Lee also met with Bronwen Maddox, Director of Chatham House — the UK’s Royal Institute of International Affairs and a leading foreign policy and security think tank — to assess the impact of shifting trade environments on the European market and explore new business opportunities. In another meeting, Oxford University professor Jieun Kiaer, an expert on K-trends, discussed European cultural consumption patterns and the potential for K-food and K-beauty to gain wider traction.
In addition, Lee held talks with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of the UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and co-founder of City Football Group, which owns 13 football clubs worldwide, including Manchester City FC. He also met with Michael Robert Payne, CEO of Payne Sports Media Strategies and former founding Marketing Director of the International Olympic Committee, to discuss how global consumer and content companies can leverage sports marketing strategies.
In Europe, demand for “health and wellness” products is rising alongside a preference for competitively priced foods, creating rapid growth opportunities for K-food. The UK in particular, with a well-developed ready-meal sector, strong openness to diverse cultures and a food market three times larger than South Korea’s, is emerging as a key hub for expanding K-food across Europe.
CJ Group has been driving business diversification in the region with food as its starting point. In 2018, it established a food subsidiary in Germany and acquired frozen food company Mainfrost, introducing strategic products such as mandu to local supermarket chains and accelerating their global popularity. The group has since expanded its footprint, launching subsidiaries in the UK in 2022 and in France and Hungary in 2024, further strengthening its business foundation.
CJ Foods is currently building a new K-food plant near Budapest, Hungary, to meet rapidly growing demand for mandu in the region and to ensure consistent production quality. Starting in the second half of 2026, the plant will produce bibigo mandu for distribution across Europe, with plans to later add production lines for bibigo chicken products.
Leveraging the popularity of K-pop and K-beauty, CJ Group is also expanding opportunities in the entertainment and beauty sectors across Europe. The UK and France are increasingly being recognized as next-generation global content production hubs, set to rival Hollywood. Last year, CJ ENM hosted KCON in Germany and has since been strengthening its partnerships with major European platforms to boost K-content distribution and accelerate entry into new markets.
In 2021, CJ Olive Young began selling its products through its online Global Mall to 16 European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, and has since expanded its reach to 26 countries. In 2024, the company formed a dedicated Europe team to drive localized promotions, steadily strengthening its presence in the region. Toward the end of 2024, Olive Young designated the UK as a strategic market and has been ramping up region-specific marketing initiatives as part of its business expansion efforts. As of the first half of 2025, Olive Young’s European sales through its Global Mall had surged by nearly 180% year over year.
“This on-site management tour in the UK is part of our global expansion across Asia, the U.S. and Europe, and represents a strategic move to support the group’s future growth,” a CJ Group representative stated. “By focusing on our core businesses — food, beauty and entertainment — we aim to build differentiated competitiveness in the global market.”
