November 21, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Group commemorated the 31st anniversary of the death of Lee Byung-chul, founder of Korea’s largest conglomerate on Nov. 19.

Lee, who established trucking business Samsung Trading, forerunner of Korea’s largest conglomerate, in 1938, passed away in 1987. For the first two decades since his death, the memorial service was held jointly by the family and close relatives, which include the owners of Korea’s large conglomerates CJ Group, Shinsegae Group and Hansol Group. Some of the companies, however, have started holding separate memorial services in recent years.

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CJ, in particular, started hosting its own memorial ceremony since 2012 after its honorary chairman and Samsung Group founder’s eldest son Lee Maeng-hee filed a lawsuit against his brother and Samsung Chairman Le Kun-hee, demanding shares of Samsung Group affiliates inherited from the late founder.

Samsung and CJ also held separate memorial services this year.

“Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and his family members visited the family cemetery last week,” an official from the company told The Investor.

He was joined by his mother and former Leeum Samsung Museum of Art Director Hong Ra-hee and his two sisters, Boo-jin and Seo-hyun, who are presidents of Hotel Shilla and Samsung C&T, respectively.

The Samsung chairman, who has been bedridden since 2014 after a heart attack, was absent at the service.

His son, Jae-yong has skipped the memorial service in the past two years due to his alleged involvement in an influence-peddling scandal surrounding the now-impeached President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil. He was behind bars for around a year on bribery charges and was released in February this year on a suspended term.

CJ Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, son of Maeng-hee, on the other hand, took part in the service held in the morning on Nov. 19.

Some 50 top executives of Samsung Group affiliates, including Lee Soo-bin of Samsung Life Insurance, Yoon Boo-keun of Samsung Electronics, and Lee Sang-hoon, chairman of Samsung Electronics’ board of directors, participated in the ceremony.

Separate memorial services for the late Samsung founder are scheduled to be held by Shinsegae and Hansol in the afternoon at the family cemetery.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)