Samsung Electronics Annual General Meeting on the 20th of Next Month... Lee Jae-yong's Return as Registered Executive Delayed

Shin Jeyoon and Cho Hyekyung Nominated as Outside Director Candidates
Recruitment of Economic Official and Robotics Expert

Former Financial Services Commission Chairman Shin Je-yoon and Professor Cho Hye-kyung of Hansung University’s Department of AI Applications have been nominated as new outside director candidates for Samsung Electronics. The timing of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s return as a registered executive has been postponed once again.

Samsung Electronics Seocho Building, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Samsung Electronics announced on the 20th that it will hold the 55th regular shareholders' meeting at the Suwon Convention Center in Gyeonggi Province on the 20th of next month.

The agenda for this shareholders' meeting is expected to include the appointment of outside directors, approval of financial statements, approval of the director remuneration limit, and partial amendments to the articles of incorporation.

With the terms of Kim Sun-wook, Honorary Professor at Ewha Womans University Law School, and Kim Jong-hoon, Chairman of Kisswe Mobile, ending on the 22nd of next month, it is expected that the nominated outside directors Shin Je-yoon and Cho Hye-kyung will succeed them.

Nominee Shin is a traditional bureaucrat who entered public service by passing the 24th Administrative Examination. He has served as International Affairs Manager (Vice Minister) at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, and is currently an advisor at the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee LLC. Nominee Cho is a full member of the Korean Academy of Engineering, has served as director (chair) of the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, vice president of the Society of Control, Robotics and Systems, and president of the Korean Robotics Society. Nominee Cho was also recommended as a candidate for audit committee member alongside outside director Yoo Myung-hee.

The agenda for appointing Chairman Lee as an inside director was again not included. Although some in the business community speculated that Lee’s return as a registered executive might be possible following the first trial acquittal in the case of the 'illegal succession of management rights' allegations, the timing of his return as a registered executive appears to have been postponed considering judicial risks, as appeals and other proceedings remain. Among the heads of Korea’s four major conglomerates, Lee is the only one who is a non-registered executive.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics introduced an electronic voting system in 2020 that allows shareholders to exercise their voting rights in advance without attending the shareholders' meeting in person. Shareholders can participate in electronic voting from 9 a.m. on the 10th of next month until 5 p.m. on the 19th.

For shareholder convenience, Samsung Electronics has been providing online streaming of the shareholders' meeting since 2021. Shareholders can apply to participate in the online broadcast through a separately prepared website and can also submit questions on each agenda item. However, under current law, it is not possible to watch the online broadcast on the day of the shareholders' meeting and vote online on the agenda items simultaneously, so shareholders must exercise their voting rights in advance through electronic voting or apply for proxy voting.