This article is by Hyeon Ye-seul and read by an artificial voice.

An increasing number of family-owned conglomerate owners, heirs and relatives are marrying into the business world or nonfamily-owned conglomerate households rather than pursuing politically arranged marriages, according to a report released on Wednesday.
CEOScore, a corporate data research firm, surveyed 380 individuals from 81 family-owned business groups in 2025. The results show a generational shift in marital ties, one away from political and government circles.
Among second-generation family-owned conglomerate members, 24.1 percent had political or bureaucratic in-laws. This fell to 14.1 percent for the third generation and 6.9 percent for the fourth and fifth generations.
Notable second-generation family-owned conglomerate members that formed marital ties with political or government circles include those from HD Hyundai, LS and SK.
Chung Mong-joon, the chairman of the Asan Foundation and son of Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung, married Kim Young-myung, the daughter of former Foreign Minister Kim Dong-jo. Koo Ja-yeol, the chairman of the LS board of directors, married Lee Hyun-joo, the daughter of Lee Jae-jeon, a former deputy chief of the presidential security service.
While marriages into political families have declined, those between business families are becoming more common. Such alliances accounted for 34.5 percent of marriages among second-generation family-owned conglomerate members, 47.9 percent in the third generation and 46.5 percent in the fourth and fifth generations.

Unions between family- and nonfamily-owned conglomerate households are also on the rise. Marriages into nonfamily-owned conglomerate households accounted for 29.3 percent of marriages among second-generation family-owned conglomerate members, dipped to 23.3 percent for the third generation, then rose again to 37.2 percent in the fourth and fifth generations.
Looking at a longer timeline, marriages into political or government families accounted for 24.2 percent of the business community before 2000. Since then, the figure has dropped to 7.4 percent. Over the same period, interbusiness marriages rose from 39.2 percent to 48 percent, and marriages with nonfamily-owned conglomerate households increased from 24.6 percent to 31.4 percent.
"Marrying into political circles used to benefit business operations," CEOScore said in the report. "But such ties now pose greater risks of regulatory scrutiny and public criticism."
LS had the most extensive network of business in-laws - connecting with Hyundai Motor, OCI, BGF, Sampyo, Sajo and the extended Dongkuk Steel family, Kisco Holdings - followed by LG and GS, each with marital ties to four other groups.
LG has ties to DL Group, Samsung, GS and Doosan, and GS is linked with LG, Sampyo, JoongAng and Taekwang. If GS's extended family is included, the group is also connected to Kumho Petrochemical and SeAH.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

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