Lee Kun-hee

Lee Kun-hee (Korean: 이건희; Hanja: 李健熙; Korean pronunciation: [iːɡʌnhi]; born January 9, 1942) is a South Korean business magnate and the chairman of Samsung Group. In 1996, Lee became a member of the International Olympic Committee. With an estimated family net worth of US$40.8 billion, he and his family rank among the Forbes richest people in the world. He is the third son of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.[4]

This is a Korean name; the family name is Lee.
Lee Kun-hee
Lee attending breakfast with various Korean business leaders, 2013
Born (1942-01-09) January 9, 1942
Ŭiryŏng, South Kyŏngsang, Japanese occupied Korea (present day South Korea)[1]
NationalitySouth Korean
Alma materWaseda University
George Washington University
OccupationChairman of Samsung
Net worthUS$20.6 billion (February 2020)[2]
Spouse(s)Hong Ra-hee[3]
ChildrenLee Jae-yong
Lee Boo-jin
Lee Seo-hyun
Lee Yoon-hyung†
Parent(s)Lee Byung-chul (1909–1987)
Park Du-eul (1907–1999)
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Geonhui
McCune–ReischauerYi Kŏnhŭi

He resigned in April 2008, owing to a Samsung slush funds scandal, but returned on March 24, 2010. In May 2014, he was hospitalized for a heart attack.[5] In 2014, Lee was named the world's 35th most powerful person and the most powerful Korean by Forbes Magazine's List of The World's Most Powerful People along with his son Lee Jae-yong.[6]

Early life
Young Lee Kun-hee with his father Lee Byung-chul

Lee Kun-hee was born on 9 January 1942 in Uiryeong, South Gyeongsang, during the Japanese occupation of Korea. He is the third son of Lee Byung-chul, the founder of the Samsung group.

Career

First period at Samsung

Lee joined the Samsung Group in 1968 and took over the chairmanship on December 24, 1987, just two weeks after the death of his father, Lee Byung-chul, who founded the company.[7] In 1993, believing that Samsung Group was overly focused on producing massive quantities of low-quality goods and was not prepared to compete in quality, Lee famously said, "Change everything except your wife and kids," and attempted to reform the profoundly Korean culture that had pervaded Samsung until this point. Foreign employees were brought in and local employees were shipped out as Lee tried to foster a more international attitude to doing business.

Under Lee's guidance, the company has been transformed from a Korean budget name into a major international force and one of the most prominent Asian brands worldwide. One of the group's subsidiaries, Samsung Electronics, is now one of the world's leading developers and producers of semiconductors, and was listed in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 largest corporations in the world in 2007.[8]

Samsung scandal

On January 14, 2008, Korean police raided Lee's home and office in an ongoing probe into accusations that Samsung was responsible for a slush fund used to bribe influential prosecutors, judges, and political figures in South Korea.[9] On April 4, 2008, Lee denied allegations against him in the scandal.[10] After a second round of questioning by the South Korean prosecutors, on April 11, 2008, Lee was quoted by reporters as saying, "I am responsible for everything. I will assume full moral and legal responsibility.”[11] On April 21, 2008, he resigned and stated: "We, including myself, have caused troubles to the nation with the special probe; I deeply apologize for that, and I'll take full responsibility for everything, both legally and morally."[12]

On July 16, 2008, The New York Times reported the Seoul Central District Court had found Lee guilty on charges of financial wrongdoing and tax evasion. Prosecutors requested Lee be sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 350 billion won (approx US$312 million). The court fined him 110 billion Won (approx US$98 million) and sentenced him to three years' suspended jail time. However, on December 29, 2009, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak pardoned Lee, stating that the intent of the pardon was to allow Lee to remain on the International Olympic Committee.[11] In Lee Myung-bak's later corruption trial, this pardon was revealed to have been in exchange for bribes, and further bribery and other political corruption between Former President Lee and Lee Kun-hee was also exposed.[13]

In 2010, the company's former chief legal counsel, Kim Yong-chul, published a book called "Think Samsung." It revealed alleged details of Lee Kun-hee's personal corruption, claiming he stole up to 10 trillion won (approx US$8.9 billion) from Samsung subsidiaries, destroyed evidence, and bribed government officials to ensure the smooth transfer of power to his son.[11]

Return to Samsung

On March 24, 2010, Lee announced his return to Samsung Electronics as its chairman.[14]

In an interview, Lee expressed pride in the fact that Samsung attracts the brightest minds in South Korea but added that his new goal is to attract talent from all over the world to ensure that Samsung will remain one of the top companies in the world for years. As of 2012, Samsung's revenues were 39 times what they were in 1987, accounting for around 20 percent of South Korea's GDP, and Lee was the country's richest man.[11]

After Lee suffered an incapacitating heart attack, his son, Lee Jae-yong, became the Samsung group's de facto leader.[15]

Personal life

Lee Kun-hee's wife, Hong Ra-hee, is the daughter of Hong Jin-ki, the former chairman of the JoongAng Ilbo and Tongyang Broadcasting Company, and Kim Yoon-nam (1924–2012). Kim was born in the coastal city of Mokpo, South Jeolla. While attending Ewha Womans University as a junior in 1942, she married Hong Jin-ki (1917–1984), who at the time was working as a judge at the Jeonju District Court in Jeonju, North Jeolla. The two are survived by four sons and two daughters: Ra-hee, director general of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art and the wife of Lee Kun-hee; Seok-hyun; Seok-joh, CEO of BGF Retail; Suk-joon, CEO of Bokwang Investment; Seok-kyu, CEO of Bokwang; and Ra-young, deputy director at Leeum. Kim was also the mother-in-law of Lho Chol-soo, publisher of the Korea JoongAng Daily, who is also the son of Lho Shin-yong, the (former) Prime Minister of South Korea who served from 1985 to 1987. Kim Yoon-nam died of natural causes at Samsung Medical Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul in 2012 when she was 88 years old.[16]

Hong Ra-hee majored in applied art at Seoul National University and gained experience as a museum art director in 1995 at Ho-am Art Museum in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The museum was established by Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul in 1978.[3]

His siblings and some of their children are also executives of major Korean business groups.[17] Lee Boo-jin, his eldest daughter, is president and CEO of Hotel Shilla, a luxury hotel chain, as well as president of Samsung Everland, a theme park and resort operator that is "widely seen as the de facto holding company for the conglomerate" according to Associated Press.[17] As of 2010, his son Lee Jae-yong is vice chairman of Samsung Electronics.

Lee has 4 children: the eldest child and the only son Lee Jae-yong (born 1968) and three daughters Lee Boo-jin (born 1970), Lee Seo-hyun (born 1973) and Lee Yoon-hyung (born 1979, died 2005).[18]

Kim Jae-yeol (born 1968), the son-in-law of Lee Kun-hee and husband of Lee Seo-hyun

Lee's eldest brother's son is currently chairman and CEO of the CJ Group, a company holding businesses in food, beverages and adult entertainment. His second eldest brother's sons ran Saehan Media, one of the largest blank media producers. His older sister is the owner of Hansol Group, the country's largest paper manufacturer and producer of electronics and telecommunications. One of his sisters is married to Koo Ja-hak, brother of a former chairman of the LG Group and himself a former chairman of LG Semiconductor. He is currently running one of the largest food services firms in South Korea. Lee's younger sister, Lee Myung-hee, is chairwoman of the Shinsegae Group, the largest retail company in South Korea, with major holdings such as the Shinsegae Department Stores and E-Mart. His daughter Lee Yoon-hyung committed suicide in Manhattan in 2005.[19]

In late 2005, Lee was tested for cancer at the MD Anderson Medical Center in Houston, Texas.[20]

Lee's older brother Lee Maeng-hee and older sister Lee Sook-hee initiated legal action against him in February 2012, asking a South Korean court to award them shares of Samsung companies totaling US$850 million (913.563 billion won), which they claim their father willed to them.[21] Court hearings began in May 2012. On February 6, 2014, courts in South Korea dismissed the case.[22] On May 11, 2014, Lee was hospitalized for a heart attack. On May 16, 2014, the AsiaN claimed that Lee had died, citing a whistleblower inside the firm. It deleted the article seven months later, saying it was unable to obtain further information to substantiate the claim.[5] Lee remains hospitalized.[23]

Lee speaks Korean, English, and Japanese.

References
  1. Louis Kraar (12 Apr 2010). "Lee Kun-Hee South Korean businessman". Britannica. Retrieved 18 Feb 2017.
  2. "Lee Kun-Hee", Forbes (profile), retrieved 13 February 2020
  3. Herald, The Korea (29 March 2011). "Hong Ra-hee makes comeback as Leeum's director".
  4. "Profile: Lee Kun-hee". BBC. March 24, 2010. Retrieved 2013-03-02.
  5. Power, John (7 April 2015). "Is Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee dead or alive?". The Korea Observer. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. "The World's Most Powerful People".
  7. Byford, Sam (30 November 2012). "King of Samsung: a chairman's reign of cunning and corruption". Retrieved 2018-09-27.
  8. Demos, Telis (11 July 2007). "Global 500: The world's largest corporations". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  9. Archived January 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Samsung chairman hints at possible resignation : National : Home" (in Korean). English.hani.co.kr. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
  11. Byford, Sam (30 November 2012). "King of Samsung: a chairman's reign of cunning and corruption". The Verge.
  12. "BBC News – Asia-Pacific – Samsung chief resigns from post". news.bbc.co.uk. 2008-04-22.
  13. Sang-Hun, Choe (5 October 2018). "Former South Korean President Gets 15 Years in Prison for Corruption". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  14. "Lee Kun-hee Returns to Samsung Helm". koreatimes. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  15. "Lee Kun-hee". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  16. "JoongAng's late chairman's wife dies". Korea JoongAng Daily.
  17. Samsung promotes chairman's son to president Archived December 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Kelly olsen, AP, 3 Dec 2010
  18. "The descendants of the Samsung family lived uncomfortably and their suicides were killed (2)". 24 August 2010. Retrieved 2018-09-27.
  19. The Seoul Times : Samsung Chairman's Daughter Kills Herself in November 2005. Retrieved January 19, 2017
  20. "Finding a Cure for Cancer – News – SNU Media – News & Forum – SNU". www.useoul.edu. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  21. "Samsung Feud: The Court Case Begins". The Wall Street Journal. May 30, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  22. "Samsung boss Lee Kun-hee wins inheritance case appeal". BBC News. 6 February 2014 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  23. "Lee Kun-hee", Forbes.com. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
Business positions
Preceded by
Lee Byung-chul		 Chairman of Samsung Group
December 1987 – April 2008		 Succeeded by
Lee Soo-bin
Preceded by
Lee Soo-bin		 Chairman of Samsung Group
March 2010 – present		 Incumbent
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