[Lee Kun-hee 1st Anniversary] Lee Jae-yong: "With a humble heart, let's all move forward for a new Samsung" (Comprehensive)

First Message to Employees After Parole
Emphasizes Neighbors and Society for a Better Future
Predictions of Full-Scale Management Activities

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics and the bereaved family members are attending the first anniversary memorial service of the late Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Group, held on the 25th at the ancestral grave in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. / Suwon - Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporters Heungsun Kim and Hyunjin Jung] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong commemorated the first anniversary of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee by presenting a vision, saying, "Now, with a humble heart, let us all move forward together to create a new Samsung and a better future for our neighbors and society."

On the 25th, Vice Chairman Lee attended the unveiling ceremony of Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s bust held at the Samsung Human Resources Development Center’s Changjo Hall in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, where he made these remarks. He said, "It has already been a year since Chairman Lee Kun-hee left us," and added, "For the late chairman, Samsung was his life itself, and through his 'bold challenges' that did not yield to the limits of reality, he nurtured possibilities and built today’s Samsung," conveying a message of remembrance.

This message was the first official statement from Vice Chairman Lee to Samsung employees since his release on parole on August 13. It is interpreted as a strong determination to start afresh, emphasizing a 'new Samsung' and 'the future of neighbors and society.' Accordingly, there is speculation that Vice Chairman Lee will embark on full-scale management activities to propel Samsung’s leap forward, marking the first anniversary of Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s passing as a turning point.

Specifically, it is expected that he will begin by overseeing major management issues such as large-scale facility investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). There is growing anticipation that as early as next month, he will visit the United States in person to finalize the long-considered investment in a foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) plant and seek strategies to respond to the fiercely contested 'semiconductor hegemony war' centered on global powers including the U.S., Europe, and China. Inside and outside the business community, it is believed that the Samsung president-level personnel reshuffle and organizational restructuring, expected to follow his overseas management activities, will embody the vision of a 'New Samsung.'

Meanwhile, five Samsung presidents attended the unveiling ceremony of Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s bust along with Vice Chairman Lee. Samsung stated, "Based on the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s lifelong philosophy of 'people first,' and his dedication to nurturing 'creative core talents,' we installed the bust in Changjo Hall to honor him."

Opened in 1991, Changjo Hall has served as the 'cradle' for cultivating the talents that Chairman Lee and Samsung have aspired to develop. Until before the COVID-19 pandemic, most basic training for Samsung’s new and experienced employees, promotions, and executives took place at Changjo Hall, earning it the nickname 'the hometown of Samsung employees' within the group. After assuming the chairmanship in 1987, Chairman Lee instructed the Samsung Human Resources Development Center to build Changjo Hall and even took on the role of director of the center, personally leading educational programs.

Earlier that morning at 10 a.m., a modest memorial service for the first anniversary of Chairman Lee’s passing was held. Family members including Hong Ra-hee, former director of the Leeum Museum of Art, Vice Chairman Lee, Lee Boo-jin, President of Hotel Shilla, Lee Seo-hyun, Chairwoman of the Samsung Welfare Foundation, and Kim Jae-yeol, President of the Samsung Economic Research Institute, attended the approximately 20-minute service at the family burial site in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, quietly paying their respects.

Samsung Electronics and other Samsung affiliates created an online memorial hall on the company’s internal network to allow employees to pay tribute to the late chairman and broadcast a memorial video through the internal broadcasting system. The memorial hall featured a 12-minute tribute video containing the message, "We will build a Samsung to be even prouder of," along with a special lecture video by Chairman Lee from the New Management era.