President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hun during his meeting with heads of economic organizations and leaders of the top five conglomerates at Cheong Wa Dae on Feb. 13. (Photo on the courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae website)

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hun was a special guest invited to President Moon Jae-in’s meeting with heads of economic organizations and leaders of the top five conglomerates at Cheong Wa Dae on Feb. 13.

Chairman Lee’s invitation represents the rise of CJ Group, whose investment and support for the Korean content industry ultimately culminated in Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” sweeping the Oscars.

It was the first time that Chairman Lee was invited to President Moon’s such a meeting with the leaders of top five conglomerates in recent years.

In the meeting, President Moon spoke about the film “Parasite,” which made history in the global film industry. Parasite was the first non-English film to win best picture in the 92-year history of the Oscars.

The film also won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film awards at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

President Moon evaluated the feat as a triumph of hallyu (Korean Wave) culture. “Of late, Korean companies’ endless challenges and innovation have become the hope of people,” President Moon said. CJ Group is the first such example, he added.

CJ Group and CJ Vice Chairman Lee Mi-kyung were evaluated to have played a pivotal role in spearheading the “Oscars race” behind filmmaker Bong’s “Parasite,” the highlight of the 92nd Academy awards ceremony.

CJ Chairman Lee and his elder sister Vice Chairman Lee were the architects of a “master plan” for the group to enter the global entertainment industry with 25 years of cultural investments.

Major foreign news media gave prominent coverage to CJ Vice Chairman Lee, elder sister of CJ Chairman Lee, who took the microphone following Bong’s acceptance speech and extended thanks to her brother for his support.

For instance, the Wall Street Journal flashed the headline “‘Parasite’ Financial Backer Started as a Food Maker.” The article introduced CJ Group’s focus on K-pop music groups and investment in DreamWorks.

CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun, the son of the late CJ honorary chairman Lee Maeng-hee, had been groomed as one of the heirs of the Samsung family, whereas Vice Chairman Lee was indulged in the culture sector.

Chairman Lee and Vice Chairman Lee began to dream up a vision of reshaping the Korean entertainment industry in 1995 when CJ was spun off from Samsung Group.

Chairman Lee was heavily influenced by his elder sister. She shared with Chairman Lee experiences and feelings she had accumulated while engaged in activities in the United States, and communicated with notables in the American film community.

CJ’s first step in the culture business was an investment in DreamWorks, a global film studio established by film guru Steven Spielberg in cooperation with animation guru Jeffrey Katzenberg, and album producer David Geffen.

Steven Spielberg was a business partner and a close friend of Vice Chairman Lee. At that time, the global film industry paid keen attention to DreamWorks’ partnership with CJ Cheiljedang of Korea, not Japan.

At that time, Japanese spent big in the United States, like Sony’s acquisition of Columbia and Matsushita’s purchase of Universal.

CJ Cheiljedang decided to invest in DreamWorks in February 1995, and the company established the multi-media business division in August that same year. The division went from strength to strength. It has grown into CJ ENM.

CJ supported efforts to overhaul the rule-of-thumb filmmaking system of the Korean film industry and motivate creative filmmakers, actors and other cast members. CJ helped filmmakers, such as Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook, produce a variety of films.

CJ teamed up with filmmaker Bong to produce “Memories of Murder,” “Mother,” “Snowpiercer,” and “Parasite.”

Vice Chairman Lee said she believed that if efforts to present diverse content of Korea were made, there would be a market for it.

In an interview with the U.S. entertainment media “Hollywood Reporter,” she revealed the reason for CJ’s 25-year-old investment into the culture content sector.