▶주메뉴 바로가기

▶본문 바로가기

The Korea Herald
검색폼

THE INVESTOR
March 29, 2024

Samsung

‘Irreversible’ change expected in Samsung‘s corporate governance: FTC chief

  • PUBLISHED :April 10, 2018 - 16:43
  • UPDATED :April 10, 2018 - 16:43
  • 폰트작게
  • 폰트크게
  • facebook
  • sms
  • print

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group is likely to make an ‘irreversible’ change once the fate of its de facto head is decided at the upper court, the head of the nation’s antitrust watchdog said on April 10.

While touting Samsung‘s efforts in making changes in its boardroom such as bringing in foreign executives, Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo said that the conglomerate may face challenges in cutting the link between its insurance and electronics arms.

 

Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo



"Samsung should suggest the most rational direction to the market and the government should, too, agonize the way of inducing such change,” he said in a radio interview.

In February, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was freed after an appeals court gave him a 2 1/2 year suspended jail sentence for corruption in connection with a scandal that toppled the former president Park Geun-hye.

Lee spent nearly a year in jail after a lower court earlier gave him a five-year jail term for giving 8.8 billion won (US$8.2 million) in bribes to Park and her confidante Choi Soon-sil in return for government backing in the merger of two key Samsung units, a process that was deemed vital for his leadership succession.

With regard to the progress of chaebol’s “self-reform” efforts that he had requested in June last year, Kim said he will meet again with heads of conglomerates in early May for a discussion.

When Kim was appointed to the head of FTC in June last year, he met with leaders of the four major conglomerates -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG and SK -- and asked to voluntarily change their corporate governance to become more transparent and democratic.

“By listening to difficulties that conglomerates have, the FTC will continue to work on measures to support conglomerates to have the sustainable corporate governance,” Kim said, adding that such measures will be reflected on the revision to the fair trade law, expected to be proposed in the second half of this year.

By Kim Da-sol/The Korea Herald (ddd@heraldcorp.com)

EDITOR'S PICKS