The story of the late President Lee Kun-hee: The legendary man who turned Samsung into the world’s leading electronics empire

On October 25, Samsung released the sad news: Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee passed away, at the age of 78.

The death of Chairman Lee, although an early end (he fell into a coma after a heart attack in 2014), still leaves many regrets. The man is considered a living legend of Samsung, who has made this corporation a leading world empire in the field of electronic innovation – including smartphones, TVs and memory chips. Then today, only Samsung is considered the biggest counterpart to Apple only.

Chairman Lee Kun-hee passed away on October 25, 2020, at the age of 78

Vision of “The Chosen One”

Lee Kun-hee was born on January 9, 1942 in Daegu, a city about 240 kilometers south of South Korea’s capital Seoul, and is the third son of the founder of Samsung Group, Lee Byung-chull.

In 1938, Mr. Lee Byung-chull opened a 4-storey grocery store in Daegu – which was also the origin of the Samsung Group later.

In his childhood, Lee Kun-hee loved movies, liked cars, but kept it private. Boy Lee that day learned wrestling, playing football to fight loneliness. He then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan), and then studied business administration at George Washington University (USA).

Mr. Lee Kun-hee at an event in 1988

In 1971, Lee Byung-chull chose his youngest son – Lee Kun-hee as his career heir. From here he began to show his ability to maneuver and see ahead of his time.

In 1974, the company shifted from a grocery store to a semiconductor business, with the acquisition of a 50% stake in Hankook Semiconductor – which was then not profitable. It took them 14 years – by 1988, the deal began to turn a profit, with the help of self-made memory chips.

But the most memorable event, also the one that demonstrates Lee Kun-hee’s assertive ability and clear vision, took place in 1993. At this time, Samsung is headquartered in Suwon (Korea) and is only viewed. is a brand that specializes in producing low-priced, low-quality goods. Unacceptable to that reality, President Lee decided to radically reform, through an event known as the “Frankfurt Declaration” – Frankfurt Declaration.

In 1993, he held a meeting with all the employees of the corporation and gave an immortal message: “Must renew everything, except your wife and children.” He asked employees to be at the company from 7am instead of 8:30, to improve labor productivity.

“Lee is the type of person who is particularly cautious, vigilant and extremely assertive,” – quoted Geoffrey Cain, who wrote a Samsung book. Despite lung cancer, he made a “very risky 1983 decision on the semiconductor market, thereby turning Samsung into a difficult empire to collapse in Korea.”

With the “Frankfurt Declaration”, Lee showed his determination. In 1995, he gathered 2,000 employees and forced them to witness himself burning 150,000 phones, fax machines and products that did not meet the company’s quality standards. A drastic determination that up to now, everyone thinks it is necessary. Because, Samsung began to step forward, becoming the world’s leading manufacturer in the field of smartphones, smart TVs and memory chips. They surpassed Sony, becoming the company with the highest sales of TVs in the country, market value skyrocketed to over $ 100 billion.

In 2010, Samsung introduced the Galaxy series of phones running the Android operating system. Now surely no one is unfamiliar with this name anymore, when it brought Samsung to overtake Apple, becoming the world’s largest smartphone maker in 2011 in terms of sales.

In 2012, Samsung officially became the best selling phone brand in the world (all lines, including regular phones and smartphones). They beat Nokia – the name that had been the market leader for decades. And that success has helped increase the company’s revenue very high.

Controversy appeared

However, Lee’s career also appeared some controversy. The first is that the automotive expansion has not been successful. When Samsung Motor Inc. released in 1998, they did not attract anyone. Eventually by 2000, the majority of shares in this branch of the business were taken over by Renault SA.

Lee was also involved in a number of bribery cases under President Roh Tae-woo in 1996, but was later ordered forgiveness by President Kim Young-sam in 1997. In 2009, he was found guilty of tax evasion, fined up to 110 billion won and 3 years in suspended prison.

Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his wife

Lee Kun-hee married Hong Ra-hee in 1967. He has a total of four children: Lee Jae Yong, Lee Boo-jin, Lee Seo-hyun and Lee Yoon-hyung. In which only Lee Jae Yong is the son – who is also currently in charge of operating Samsung Group. Lee Yoon-hyung passed away in 2005, at the age of 26.