Controversial figure who has turned Samsung into a global tech powerhouse
Samsung Electronics announced the death of its chairman, Lee Kun-hee. The company says he passed away on October 25 with his family including his son, Vice President Lee Jae Yong at his side. He was 78 years old.
The cause of death has yet to be determined, but Lee was incapacitated for many years after suffering a heart attack in 2014, which caused his withdrawal from public life. It was widely assumed that Lee Jae-yong, also known as Jay Y. Lee, would take care of his father's death, and had been seen as the de facto leader in recent years.
'The motivating driver to see the company'
Lee Kun-hee was a controversial figure who played a huge role in propelling Samsung from a maker of inexpensive TVs and devices into one of the most powerful tech brands in the world. He became the richest man in South Korea, with the Samsung group contributing around a fifth of the country's GDP. Samsung said in its statement that Lee's announcement of the "new management" in 1993 was "the catalyst for the company's vision to provide the best technologies to aid the advancement of the global community."
Lee also found himself in legal trouble. He was convicted of bribing President Roh Tae-woo through an informal fund in 1995, and tax evasion and embezzlement in 2008, but was formally pardoned for each conviction. The South Korean justice minister said at the time that a second pardon was issued in 2009 "so that Lee can regain his place in the International Olympic Committee and form a better position for the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang."
Lee's death will reignite inevitable speculation about the succession process. While Lee Jae-yong has long been groomed to become chairman of the board, he has had legal problems of his own since his father's impotence, spending nearly a year in jail for his role in the corruption scandal that toppled former South Korean President Park Geun- Hye. South Korean law also means that anyone who assumes Lee's assets will face several billion dollars in inheritance tax, which could force them to reduce their stake in the company.
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