|
Lee Kun-hee quit as Samsung Group chairman, but remains a major shareholder of the conglomerate. / Yonhap |
By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
Lee Kun-hee, now officially the ``former'' Samsung Group chairman, recently made numerous apologies for causing concern to the public.
But Lee has not specified why and for what he was sorry. He was on trial for charges of tax evasion and breach of trust. Samsung admits tax evasion but denies bribery and most other allegations, portending a long legal battle ahead.
This book takes a close look into the dynamics of the ``Samsung Empire'' that has a Janus-like nature. It explains why the Samsung boss should feel sorry after more than twenty years of toil building the nation's most powerful chaebol.
``Korean Society Asks About Samsung,'' co-authored by a group of professors and a journalist, is the product of two years of research.
Is Samsung a national pride or a group of elite criminals? How does Samsung control Korean society? Why are there no trade
"Korean Society Asks About Samsung'' By Cho Don-moon and other; Humanitas; 650pp, 25,000 won |
unions at Samsung? The book seeks to provide answers to these questions.
Samsung knows that its illegal or irregular business practices ― so customary ― are the target of constant public criticism. They indeed dent its international brand image seriously. Then why doesn't it quit such unfair deals? This book starts with this question.
Prof. Cho Don-moon of Catholic University and the other authors point out three main reasons why it has to constantly break the law.
First, Lee's family members rely on illegal practices to ensure the next generation inherits the company's wealth and management control. Second, to stop any collective resistance against management policies by the workers, it blocks them from forming trade unions, a violation of the law. Third, it needs to bring the nation's economic polices and judiciary order in line with its own interests.
Samsung is indeed a corporate icon representing Korea. It commands top brand power. It has long built myths such as ``Samsung makes the best'' and ``What's good for Samsung is good for the nation.''
However, its dominant economic, political and social power did not come without costs. This book wants to shed light on the sacrifices offered to the almighty Samsung.
It built an empire that is ruled by Lee. In the course of maintaining his power or transferring it to his heir, the czar ignores the rules of the game. Of course, the group's planning and strategic office ― formerly restructuring office ― draws up, directs and oversees all suspicious deals.
To cover up its wrongdoings, it inevitably bribes prosecutors, bureaucrats, journalists and other influential figures in every nook and cranny of society. These bureaucrats and lawmakers who receive scholarships from Samsung come under pressure to modify the rules of the game to the tune of Samsung.
Prof. Cho calls Samsung Group a gigantic Panopticon (a round-shaped prison building designed for an observer to observe all prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched).
Under the invisible but omniscient web of a monitoring system, all employees and executives, with the exception of Lee family members, watch each other.
This total surveillance system, further bolstered by sophisticated electronic gadgets, nip in the bud any organized or systematic resistance against management.
``These layers of enforced and at the same time voluntary control, and surveillance systems make collective resistance impossible,'' Cho says. ``It's destructive to humanity.''
The authors say that the total surveillance is behind the non-existence of trade unions at most Samsung units. They say the failure to hold Samsung accountable for illegalities leaves the law worthless, with the biggest victim being justice.
So, what should be done? As long as Samsung is under the control of the Lee family, it will continue to commit illegal transactions, they said.
Lee and his subordinates standing trial are charged with evading taxes and causing losses to Samsung affiliates by transferring management control of the group via illegal means to his son, Jae-yong. Prosecutors have unearthed 4.5 trillion won ($4.6 billion) of Lee's hidden assets in bank and stock accounts opened under the names of executives.
Samsung says Lee will completely wash his hands of management. But it does not mean the day of the one-man show has gone. This book says much of the show will remain the same, with the only difference being the person in charge.
What is noticeable so far is not the resignation of its boss but the absence of Jae-yong's resignation, it says. The focal point of chaebol reform lies on ``weakening the unfair control'' by the largest shareholders.
Call for Samsung to reform is not an attempt to kill it but to revive it as a truly world-class conglomerate. ``Without Samsung's true reform, there is no future for Korean society. Its reform is far from over,'' Prof. Cho says.
chojh@koreatimes.co.kr |
|
yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
