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| Lee Jae-yong, a vice president of Samsung Electronics, attended the training session for new executive officers in 2001, accompanied by his ex-wife Lim Se-ryung, the eldest daughter of the honorary chairman of Daesang-one of the nation`s largest food producers. | ||
The divorce case between the Samsung group’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong and his wife Lim Se-ryong was splashed in headlines across all the South Korean newspapers in February, 2009. After a 11-year marriage, the only son of former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee faced with a divorce suit filed by Lim, the eldest daughter of the honorary chairman of Daesang-one of the nation's largest food producers.
The couple met each other in 1997 just before the junior Lee got on the plane to study in the U.S. after finishing the MBA course in Japan, which was reportedly arranged by their mothers. They got married in the following year and drew quite an attention from the beginning because their families were old rivals in the history of Korean business. Their June 1998 marriage was depicted as one between two corporate royal families.
The relationship between two families is well-described in the comment by Lee Byung-chull, the Samsung founder and Jae-yong’s grandfather, saying, “there are three things out of my reach and control, which include children, golf, and Miwon.”
Miwon is the best-selling product made by Daesang group.
According to court officials, Lim filed for a legal termination of their marriage with the Seoul Family Court. Lim demanded a split of the couple' wealth, amounting to some 500 billion won and alimony of 1 billion won. Lim also wanted to retain custody of their two children ― a daughter and son.
Lee has an estimated wealth of billions of dollars as the heir-designate of her father-in-law. The junior Lee, together with his father, has a controlling stake through cross-stock ownership of nearly 60 Samsung affiliates. However, a week later, their legal representatives finalized the divorce through a session. Although the specific terms were not revealed, the case was highly likely a blow to the Samsung’s heir apparent due to the financial loss and negative effect on management succession process after the settlement.
He also had to give up important meetings overseas. Lee canceled a round of golf scheduled with Korean golf star Choi Kyoung-ju in the United States, due to a divorce suit filed by his wife. Lee was supposed to participate in the PGA TOUR golf championship, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, supported by AT&T Mobile and Apple, Samsung's main client in the U.S.
His father checked into Samsung Medical Center one day after the divorce file against the 41-year-old junior Lee.
Though the Samsung spokesperson said that the 67-year-old business tycoon headed to the hospital for a regular medical checkup, no one can simply dismiss the possibility that Jae-yong’s divorce contributed to his admission to the hospital. The senior Lee, who underwent lung cancer surgery in the United States in 2005, is known to have suffered respiratory problems since. In 2008, Kun-hee’s condition was so serious that he could not attend the founder's 21st memorial service. At that time, his only son and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong faced a divorce suit.
Jae-yong had to handle another burden on his shoulder after the slush fund scandal in 2008 when a former chief lawyer at Samsung, Kim Yong-cheol, accused him of tax evasion and breach of trust.
The junior Lee has been working on managing the overseas partners after stepping down from every position in the group since the scandal. It was a part of his efforts to prove the ability to manage the group by developing overseas markets. Unfortunately, the breakdown of the marriage overshadowed his activities outside the Korean peninsula for a full year.
There were even unproven rumors flying around the reasons of divorce and amount of alimony and most of them turned out to be allegations to blemish his morality. Such rumors added to the criticism on succession process and concern over Jae-yong’s capacity to lead the group, which made it more difficult to bring up the issue of succession.
Jae-yong also had to deal with the internal rebukes from his aunts, scolding him that “how can a man who cannot look after his own family lead such a big organization as Samsung group?”
In addition, the group’s heir apparent had a trouble related to his dear children. It is purportedly known that Lee has a parental right while sharing the custody of the two children with his ex-wife. Sources said that Lee spares quality time for his children from the busy schedule home and abroad. According to sources, he went to the basketball court with his son Jiho in April, 2009 and then a skating rink with a daughter to see Kim Yuna show.
Despite a personal pain, Lee continued to maintain the management activities around the world. He tried to meet a variety of overseas partners from the Europe and Asia. Lee kept Shanghai as his base of operations but was not fixed to the specific area like other residing workers. He surveyed the markets of Thailand and other South East Asian countries, as well as broadly visited many places including Latin America, Africa, Russia and India.
Since the divorce, Lee has been increasing public appearances, a departure from the past when he kept a low profile. For instance, he attended the World Skills Calgary 2009 in Canada and then IFA in Germany and had interviews with reporters.
"I am not entitled to complain about my life," he said, in response to a question whether he feels burdened as the son of the former head of Samsung.
"I would be lying if I say I don't feel burdened, but I have benefited from having good parents and excellent superiors (in the company)."
Then, he was promoted to the post of chief operation officer a year and a half after the resignation due to the slush fund scandal in 2008.
The junior Lee played a hosting role in the Consumer Electronics Show- the world’s largest multimedia exhibition Consumer- held in January, 2010, in the U.S. and even personally welcomed participants visiting Samsung Electronics booths.
Jae-yong, in particular, contributes to discovering the new growth engines in the emerging market. Now is a critical moment for the junior Lee to be recognized as the next leader to manage the Samsung fleet and dispel worries against his capacity.
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