In a rare display of high-profile social circles mingling, actress Kim Tae-hee and singer Baek Ji-young were spotted enjoying a round of golf with Samsung C&T President Lee Seo-hyun during Korea’s intense July heatwave.
According to reports, the trio visited Benest CC in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province during the second week of July — just before record-breaking rains hit the region. Benest CC, often dubbed a “Samsung golf course” among golf insiders due to its management by Samsung C&T, is an exclusive 27-hole course with a reported membership price of nearly 1.5 billion KRW.
Though Kim Tae-hee and Baek Ji-young’s families seemed to have no apparent connection, their daughters are classmates, which brought the two celebrity families closer through school parent gatherings. Their husbands — actor Jung Suk-won and singer Rain (Jung Ji-hoon) — even participated in a tug-of-war during a school sports day, as revealed on a YouTube variety show.
The link between Kim Tae-hee and Lee Seo-hyun, the younger sister of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, dates back years. Lee Seo-hyun, who formerly oversaw fashion at Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T, is said to have built a close friendship with Kim Tae-hee when the actress served as a brand ambassador.
One observer at the golf course shared, “Everyone was moving like clockwork that day, so we assumed a VIP was visiting — and sure enough, it was Lee Seo-hyun.” Although the group wasn’t seen mid-game, witnesses noted the three enjoyed “small talk and appeared very friendly.”
Lee Seo-hyun, born in 1973, is a Parsons School of Design graduate and serves as President of Strategy at Samsung C&T, Chairperson of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, and a board member of the Leeum Museum of Art.
As celebrity and chaebol worlds subtly overlap, this outing highlights the tight-knit — and sometimes surprising — connections among Korea’s most prominent figures.
Nate
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