Shinsegae Group's Chairman Chung Yong-jin, right, talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, during the Starlight Ball event held at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20. Courtesy of Shinsegae Group

Chung Yong-jin, chairman of Korean retail conglomerate Shinsegae Group, met with U.S. government officials and tech leaders to strengthen his global business network before attending President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony, his company said Tuesday.

Chung had a series of meetings with officials from the new administration and leaders from local tech firms from Jan. 18-20 (local time), the group said in a press release.

They included Trump's Secretary of State Marco Rubio; former PayPal executive David Sacks, who has been named the White House czar for artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency; and entrepreneur Chris Buskirk and financier Omeed Malik, who jointly set up venture capital firm 1789 Capital.

Chung, together with Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., met with the venture firm's executives in Washington as the first event of his trip to the United States, the release said.

In his meeting with Sacks, Chung said he has "a keen interest in adopting AI technologies to the group's mainstay retail and distribution business to better serve customers."

He also had a meeting with Andrew Ferguson, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.

Chung and his wife celebrated Trump's inauguration at Capital One Arena, a 20,000-seat sports and entertainment venue, near Capitol Hill, the group said.

Kim Bom, chairman and founder of Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc., reportedly was among those watching the event at Capital One Arena.

Korea's Ambassador to the U.S. Cho Hyun-dong made it to the Capitol Rotunda, which has a limited space of about 600 people, to represent the Seoul government. (Yonhap)