SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young, third from left, speaks during the Korea-U.S. Startup Summit at Pier 17 in New York, Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of SMEs and Startups

By Park Jae-hyuk

Korean and U.S. businesspeople looking forward to meeting President Yoon Suk-yeol in New York ended up being disappointed when the presidential office canceled Yoon's appearances at their events at the last minute, according to industry officials, Thursday.

Yoon initially planned to deliver a keynote speech on Wednesday (local time) for the Korea-U.S. Startup Summit at Pier 17 in New York. Other attendees there included SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young, Google Vice President Karan Bhatia, Oracle Senior Vice President Dave Rosenberg, Hyundai Motor President Kong Young-woon, Naver Cloud Platform CEO Park Weon-gi and RPS Ventures Managing Partner Kabir Misra.

The event was mainly intended for the state-run Korea Venture Investment Corp. and three U.S. venture capital firms to announce promises to raise a combined $215 million to help Korean startups enter overseas markets.