"Corruption Nexus Should Not Become a Spoil of Political Power"
Lee Chan-hee, Chairman of the Samsung Compliance Monitoring Committee (CMC), said on the 26th, "There is a fundamental question as to whether the Korea Economic Association (HanKyungHyup) has undergone a personnel reform that can decisively break the chain of collusion between politics and business."
Chairman Lee made these remarks to reporters before the 3rd CMC regular meeting held at 2 p.m. at the Samsung Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, regarding the issue of HanKyungHyup membership fee payments.
Lee Chan-hee, Chairman of Samsung Compliance Committee, is attending the Samsung Compliance Committee meeting held at Samsung Life Seocho Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 26th and answering questions from the press. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Chairman Lee stated, "There is doubt about whether HanKyungHyup has the fundamental will to break the chain of collusion between politics and business, given that a person who is considered close to the highest power acted as the acting president of the economic organization and continues to be involved even after the term ended." This appears to refer to Kim Byung-joon, the former acting president of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). Kim is currently an advisor to HanKyungHyup.
He emphasized, "A decisive decision is necessary to fundamentally break the collusion between politics and business," adding, "The chain of collusion must not become a spoil of political power."
He further explained, "It is easy to accept exceptions where a principle is broken once, but restoring the principle again is either impossible or takes a lot of time," and said, "That is why the Samsung CMC is carefully considering the payment of membership fees and cannot make an easy decision this time."
He continued, "The CMC has operated with guaranteed independence, which reflects Samsung's determination to thoroughly establish compliance management," and added, "Regarding this matter (HanKyungHyup membership fees), there has been no communication with Samsung, and the CMC plans to make decisions independently."
Chairman Lee said, "I believe that if salt loses its saltiness, it loses its value," and added, "Regardless of any pressure that may come back from what the CMC has said to sever the chain of collusion between politics and business, as chairman, I hope this opportunity will become a turning point for decisively breaking the chain of collusion in the Republic of Korea."
Earlier, HanKyungHyup sent official letters requesting membership fee payments to about 420 member companies, including the four major groups?Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG?between late March and early April. This was due to the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), which had remained a member after withdrawing from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI, now HanKyungHyup) following the political scandal, being absorbed and integrated into HanKyungHyup.
Among the four major groups that received the letters, Hyundai Motor Group paid the membership fees in early July, and SK Group paid the approximately 3.5 billion KRW annual fee requested by HanKyungHyup last week. LG Group is reportedly still reviewing the payment internally.
In Samsung's case, according to the CMC's recommendation announced in August last year regarding joining HanKyungHyup, prior approval from the CMC is required before paying the membership fees.
The CMC discussed the issue of HanKyungHyup membership fee payments at last month's regular meeting but did not reach a conclusion, and plans to continue the discussion at today's meeting.
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