LG recruits former WH deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin for govt relations

LG Corp. announced on Sunday that the group has recruited former White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin for its Washington D.C. office. 

Hagin will co-lead LG's operations in the nation’s capital alongside Lim Byung-dae, who currently serves as senior vice president and general counsel of LG Innotek.

The 66-year-old is tasked with managing the group’s government relations – mainly on Capitol Hill.

Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Hagin served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018. He was Trump’s point person arranging the  2018 North Korea-United States Singapore Summit.

He also worked in the same capacity for President George W. Bush from 2001 until July 2008. 

In April 2009, Hagin co-founded Command Consulting Group and serves as one of a couple dozen principals there. 

“The role is for detecting and analyzing the rapidly changing international relations and politics so as to assist the group in effectively dealing with them,” an LG official explained. 

South Korean conglomerates have been strengthening their government relations departments in recent months. The decision is based on the logic that understanding Washington's policy on the global supply chain is crucial for international trade.

Samsung Electronics Co. recently hired former US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert to be in charge of government affairs in North America. Lippert is slated to begin his new role as executive vice president and head of corporate affairs for Samsung Electronics America next month.
 
In Sept 2021, South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO announced that its subsidiary POSCO America Co. signed a one-year contract with a consulting agency to which former US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun belongs.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Biegun served as US deputy secretary of state from December 2019 to January 2021 and the US special representative for North Korea from Aug 2018 to Jan 2021.

Write to In-seol Jeong at surisuri@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.