Lee Seo-jin goes beyond being a ‘tvN civil servant’ and alongside world leaders

Actor Lee Seo-jin, 24 years since his debut. On the outside, he appears to be a natural entertainer with a great sense of entertainment, but his background is unique. Contrary to his label as a top actor, he has been more active in social activities than anyone else.

Recently, Lee Seo-jin attracted attention by appearing at an event attended by President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was on a state visit to the United States. President Yoon attended the ‘Global Video Content Leadership Forum’ held at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) building in Washington DC on the 27th of last month. This event was attended by CEOs of global video content companies, including the Motion Picture Association of America, which invited President Yoon, as well as Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, World Disney, and Netflix.

CJ Vice Chairman Lee Mi-kyung, CEO of SLL, Watcha, A Story, Raemong Raein, and Creative Leaders Group 8 attended. Among the entertainment industry figures, Lee Seo-jin is the only attendee.

As President Yoon entered the event venue, he shook Lee Seo-jin's hand and asked, "How did you come?" and Lee Seo-jin replied, "I was a public relations ambassador for the prosecution when (President Yoon) was at the prosecution."

It is known that Lee Seo-jin's attendance was at the request of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The agency is reported to have explained, “The United States has purchased the broadcast format of Lee’s work, or works in which Lee has appeared have been distributed through Amazon in the U.S., such as tvN’s ‘Seojin’.”

This is not the first time that Lee Seo-jin's unique career has become a hot topic. He added the meaning of Memorial Day by reading a heartfelt tribute at the 63rd Memorial Day ceremony in 2016. At that time, Seojin Lee read the work 'Rose of Sharon' by poet Baek Kuk-ho, a member of the Korean Writers' Association, who received the encouragement prize at the 2014 Veterans' Literary Art Contest, and commemorated the sacrifices and contributions of patriotic martyrs and patriotic spirits.

Lee Seo-jin's 'double life' was not the only one. He went beyond his main job as an entertainer and set out to revive his other major. Born into a financial family, he majored in business administration at New York University and worked as an executive at an asset management company even after his debut in the entertainment industry. At the time, Seojin Lee was in charge of funding related to investment in domestic and foreign dramas and movies.

He is also currently serving as an outside director of Dool, an automobile parts manufacturer. The term of office runs until March 2024. It is reported that Lee Seo-jin receives compensation of around 30 million won as an outside director.

‘Outside director Seojin Lee’ has already received a passing grade. He was shown to be faithfully performing his role with a 100% attendance rate at the board of directors. Despite the schedule of filming various dramas and entertainment shows, he attended all company schedules and dispelled concerns raised by some.

There is a reason why people are loved by the public for a long time. What can anyone say about Lee Seo-jin, who is diligent in her main job and also works hard in her external activities? The fact that he continued to take cautious steps by focusing on the areas he was good at was a factor that had a positive impact on his image.

Seojin Lee chose an activity that would allow her to utilize her strengths and demonstrate 100% of her capabilities. This was possible because he went beyond simply being a top star without a single word of mouth and guaranteed the best results in his activities.

Ryu Ye-ji, Ten Asia Reporter ryuperstar@tenasia.co.kr