Samsung Names Ex-UN Envoy as Legal Chief
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung Electronics has named Kim Hyun-chong, Korea's former ambassador to the United Nations, to head the company's legal office.
Kim, who also served as a former trade minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, will be responsible for legal strategies on intellectual property, patent and anti-dumping issues.
``We hope Kim will play a key role in strengthening Samsung's legal department,'' company spokesman James Chung said, Friday.
Chung added Kim will start working from next week.
A 50-year-old Columbia graduate, Kim led the settlement of a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States. He quit the ambassador position in 2008.
The announcement came after Samsung won a flat-screen patent dispute against Japan's Sharp.
The latest Tokyo court ruled that the Japanese consumer electronics maker had infringed on Samsung's patents for its LCDs.
Sharp started the court battle against Samsung in October, 2007, alleging that the South Korean tech company infringed on its patents on products equipped with LCD panels.