Lee Kun-hee, Korean icon who transformed Samsung, passes away at 78

News Network
October 25, 2020

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Lee Kun-hee, who transformed Samsung Electronics Co. from a copycat South Korean appliance maker into the world’s biggest producer of smartphones, televisions and memory chips, has died. He was 78.

Lee passed away on Sunday with his family by his side, the company said in a statement, without mentioning the cause of death. His family will hold a private funeral. He had surgery in 2014 after a heart attack and was treated for lung cancer in the late 1990s.

Lee, who told employees to “change everything except your wife and children” during his drive to foster innovation and challenge rivals such as Sony Corp., was South Korea’s richest person. He had an estimated net worth of $20.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Samsung, the biggest of South Korea’s family-run industrial groups, known as chaebol, has been led by his only son since the heart attack.

“Chairman Lee was a true visionary who transformed Samsung into the world-leading innovator and industrial powerhouse from a local business,” the company said. “His legacy will be everlasting.”

The reins are now set to pass to his only son Jay Y. Lee, who’s been the conglomerate’s de facto leader since his father’s hospitalization in 2014. Lee is expected to eventually inherit a $300 billion company that’s riding a Covid-era boom in online activity. Samsung, the maker of the Galaxy line of smartphones, also supplies semiconductors for Google’s data centers and Apple Inc.’s iPhone. It’s the world’s most advanced maker of displays for TVs, computers and mobile devices.

The younger Lee is currently grappling with two simultaneous legal disputes with South Korean prosecutors over allegations of bribery and corruption, which he’s repeatedly denied.

Lee Kun-hee’s heirs now face an estate tax of roughly $10 billion, and paying it may complicate the family’s control of the Samsung conglomerate -- his beneficiaries would likely have to sell some assets to cover the tax — diluting their stake in Samsung. South Korea’s levy of 50% on estates of more than 3 billion won ($2.6 million) is the second-highest among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, after Japan.

The Samsung empire includes 62 companies. Although the late Lee owned large chunks of some of the businesses — including 4.2% of Samsung Electronics — they’re not big enough to afford control of the conglomerate. The family depends on informal ties to executives who run related companies, and a lot of that soft power may dissipate with Lee’s death.

Global Powerhouse

It was Lee Kun-Hee who built the company into the electronics powerhouse of today, becoming synonymous with the rise of South Korea on a global economic stage.

Named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2005, Lee began overhauling Samsung Electronics after he saw the company’s products gathering dust in a Los Angeles electronics store, according to “The Lee Kun Hee Story,” a 2010 biography by Lee Kyung-sik. The Suwon, South Korea-based company had become known for cheap, low-quality electronics gear and was in the “second phase of cancer,” sending out 6,000 people to fix products made by 30,000 employees, Lee said in 1993, according to the biography.

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The company’s makeover started in 1993 when Lee gathered top executives in Germany and laid out a plan, known as the Frankfurt Declaration, to transform Samsung from a second-tier television maker into an industry leader. The company’s new mission: create high-quality products, even if it meant lower sales.

Samsung Electronics became the world’s top maker of computer memory chips in 1992, the same year it became the first to develop 64-megabyte DRAM chips, according to the company.

Samsung’s Origins

Lee was born on Jan. 9, 1942, in Daegu about 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Seoul, and was raised in the nearby rural district of Uiryeong, according to the company.

In 1938, his father Lee Byung-chull opened a four-story grocery store in Daegu that would later become Samsung Group.

As a teenager, Lee Kun-Hee liked movies and cars and kept to himself. He took up wrestling and played rugby in high school to fight loneliness. He graduated with a degree in economics from Waseda University in Tokyo and also studied business administration in the U.S. at George Washington University in Washington.

In 1971, Lee Byung-chull chose his youngest son to be his successor, and in 1974, the company moved into semiconductors when it acquired a 50% stake in unprofitable Hankook Semiconductor. The business turned profitable in 1988, helped by dynamic random-access memory chips it produced.

After the Frankfurt Declaration, Lee required employees to arrive at work at 7 a.m. instead of their usual 8:30 a.m. start, so they could “soak up reform in their slumber,” according to the biography.

In 1995, he assembled 2,000 workers to watch him make a bonfire out of 150,000 mobile phones, fax machines and other company products that didn’t meet his quality standards.

Lee’s cultural change eventually produced results. Samsung Electronics surpassed Tokyo-based Sony to become the top seller of flat-screen TVs in 2006, the same year its market value exceeded $100 billion.

In 2010, Samsung introduced the Galaxy-branded smartphone running Alphabet Inc.’s Android software, which helped it pass Apple as the world’s biggest smartphone maker in 2011 in terms of units sold. By introducing the Galaxy Note in 2011, Samsung created a new product niche known as the phablet, a smartphone-tablet hybrid.

Political Controversy

Samsung became the biggest seller of all mobile phones in 2012, unseating Nokia Oyj, which had been the industry leader for more than a decade. Its success in smartphones then boosted profits at its component businesses, including memory chips, display and processors.

Lee’s career was also notable for its setbacks and controversies. An expansion into the car business was unsuccessful. Samsung Motor Inc. rolled out its first automobiles in 1998 and failed to attract buyers. The unit was placed into receivership and Renault SA purchased a majority stake in 2000.

Lee was mired in political scandals in the late 1990s after being convicted of paying bribes to former president Roh Tae-woo in 1996. He was pardoned by President Kim Young-sam a year later.

In 2009, Lee was found guilty of tax evasion and breach of duty for causing losses at Samsung SDS Co., an information technology services provider, because he knew the company illegally sold bonds with warrants to his son at artificially low prices. He was fined 110 billion won and received a suspended three-year jail sentence.

Presidential Pardon

Four months after the 2009 ruling, South Korea’s then-President Lee Myung-bak pardoned Lee, a member of the International Olympic Committee, so he could help the country’s successful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Lee, who resigned from the board of Samsung Electronics in 2008 amid the controversies, returned as chairman in March 2010, telling employees the business was “facing a real crisis.”

“In 10 years, the majority of products that represent Samsung may no longer exist,” he said in a statement announcing his return. “We must have a new start. There is no time to hesitate.”

Two months later, Samsung Group said it would invest 23 trillion won to expand in areas such as health care and solar batteries by 2020.

Lee’s son, Jay Y. Lee, became vice chairman of Samsung Electronics in December 2012 and his daughter, Lee Boo-jin, is president of Hotel Shilla Co., a Samsung affiliate, raising concerns that the founding family would maintain its grip on the conglomerate at the expense of minority shareholders. That issue lies at the heart of the two legal disputes the younger Lee is now embroiled in.

In August 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the retrial of Jay Y. Lee over bribery charges that voided an earlier decision to suspend Lee’s 2.5-year prison sentence. A special prosecutor had indicted the Samsung heir on charges of bribing a friend of former President Park Geun-hye in return for government backing for a merger that helped cement his control over Samsung while his father was hospitalized.

In 1967, Lee Kun-hee married Hong Ra-hee. In addition to children Jay Y. and Boo-jin, he had a daughter, Lee Seo-hyun. Another daughter, Lee Yoon-hyung, died in 2005 at age 26.

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News Network
January 20,2025

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Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban's acting deputy foreign minister, delivered a powerful plea to his senior leadership, urging them to reopen schools for Afghan girls. In a speech that resonated as one of the strongest criticisms of the Taliban’s policies on female education, Stanekzai emphasized the injustice and non-compliance with Islamic Sharia law that the current restrictions represent.

“We request the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open the doors of education,” he declared, invoking the teachings of Islam. “In the time of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the doors of knowledge were open to both men and women.” His words underscored the historical precedence and religious justification for granting education to all.

Stanekzai did not shy away from highlighting the gravity of the issue. “Today, out of a population of forty million, we are committing injustice against twenty million people,” he stated, pointing to the female population of Afghanistan who remain deprived of their fundamental right to education.

His remarks come as a rare public rebuke of the Taliban’s ongoing school closures for girls, a policy that has faced internal disagreements and widespread international criticism. Sources indicate that the decision was enforced by the Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, despite opposition within the group.

The Taliban’s shifting stance on women’s education has drawn sharp condemnation globally. After initially promising to reopen high schools for girls in 2022, they reversed course, leaving the doors of secondary education and universities firmly closed to female students. The administration has claimed it is working on a plan for reopening these institutions but has yet to announce any concrete timeline.

Stanekzai’s speech adds to the chorus of criticism from Islamic scholars and the international community, who have called for the Taliban to honor women’s rights in accordance with Islamic principles. Western diplomats have made it clear that formal recognition of the Taliban government hinges on significant policy changes, particularly in the area of women’s education.

As of now, there has been no immediate response from a Taliban spokesman in Kandahar, where Haibatullah Akhundzada resides, regarding Stanekzai’s statements.
 

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News Network
January 24,2025

Bengaluru, Jan 24: Following several reported suicides allegedly caused by harassment from Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Friday acknowledged that the current laws are insufficient in dealing with the highhandedness of these institutions in the state.

Speaking to the media in Bengaluru, Parameshwara confirmed widespread complaints of MFI-related harassment, stating that existing laws were ineffective in curbing the issue. The Congress government plans to amend the law to ensure stricter regulations for MFIs.

"The reports from our department indicate that current laws are inadequate, and they lack the necessary strength to curb this menace," Parameshwara said. He added that new, stringent laws would be framed to regulate the MFIs, with the Congress government taking steps in that direction. In the meantime, officials have been instructed to take immediate action regarding ongoing harassment cases.

Explaining the situation, Parameshwara highlighted that MFIs often demand multiple signatures from loan recipients, which they might not fully understand. "This leads to forced raids, seizures of properties, and other actions," he noted, adding that such practices need to be addressed under law.

Law Minister H.K. Patil and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have also taken note of the issue. Siddaramaiah has called for a meeting on January 25 to discuss the alarming rise in cases and the ineffectiveness of current laws.

The issue has sparked public outcry, with victims’ families, including the wife of a suicide victim, sending symbolic protests such as mangalsutras to Parameshwara, demanding action against the MFI staff involved. Numerous petitions have been filed in Deputy Commissioners' offices across the state, urging government intervention to stop MFI harassment.

In response, opposition leaders, including Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, BJP’s R. Ashoka, and Basavaraj Bommai, have accused the Congress government of losing control over MFIs, enabling the widespread exploitation of vulnerable citizens.

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News Network
January 23,2025

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President Donald Trump’s pick for the United States ambassador to the United Nations has become the latest administration nominee to voice the belief that Israel has “biblical” dominion over the occupied West Bank.

Elise Stefanik’s comment came during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday. 

At the hearing, Elise Stefanik pledged to continue the US’s defense of Israel and advance Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York, further said that she supports the claims made by the far right in Israel that Jews have the “biblical right” to take land from Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Stefanik was definitive when asked if she shared the view of far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and former hawkish minister Itamar Ben Gvir that Israel has a “biblical right to the entire West Bank”.

She responded with one word, “Yes.”

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen further asked Stefanik whether she supported Palestinians' right to self-determination.

Stefanik refused to answer the question directly, saying, “I think they deserve more than the failures that they have suffered under the leadership of terrorists.”

Representative Stefanik was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2014, the youngest woman elected to Congress at the time, at just 30 years old, and represented New York's 21st Congressional District.

She is known to be a staunch advocate of Israel supports its decision to defund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), 

Stefanik is an advocate of claims by Zionists that that Israeli regime is justified in killing and ethnically cleansing Palestinian Christians and Muslims from their lands and homes.

She made headlines in 2024 by questioning the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about what she claimed was antisemitism on college campuses.

At the time, US students at university campuses all across the country were protesting Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

After positioning herself as a champion in the fight against the alleged rise in antisemitism, Rep. Stefanik began receiving large donations from Republican Jewish donors.

Stefanik has long been one of most ardent defenders Israeli occupation and annexation policy. 

In June 2024, US-Israeli billionaire Miriam Adelson reportedly donated $100 million to Trump for his presidential campaign in exchange for a promise to allow Israel to annex the West Bank. 

Israel's occupation and Jewish settlement of the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 have brought the Palestinian Christian community to the brink of extinction.

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