By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Embattled Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's only son, Jae-yong, stepped down as chief customer officer to work overseas in a ``tough environment,'' but this doesn't mean the heir apparent of the giant family-run conglomerate is gone for good.
``It only means that he's taking a break from this mess,'' said Kim Joo-yun of the civic group Solidarity for Economic Reform. ``Samsung's current equity structure is built to allow junior Lee to take control.''
Forty-year-old Jae-yong bought enough convertible bonds of the Everland theme park, Samsung's de facto holding company, in the mid-1990s, to take control of the group. He owns 25.1 percent of Everland shares.
``The plan had already been set. There's no surprise here,'' said Min Tae-ki, a member of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, another civic group that stood up against Samsung's corruption scandal. ``He'll hide from the scene, but when the situation settles a bit, he'll come back.''
Immediately following Chairman Lee's surprise resignation announcement, Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo told reporters that Jae-yong will also step down from his current executive position at Samsung Electronics to work on overseas operations.
``Lee will gain more working-level experience in some of the tough business regions of the world,'' said Vice Chairman Lee, the chairman's closest confidant, who also announced his resignation.
He added that the chairman believes his son, seen as groomed to take over, will be in trouble if he takes the helm of the group now, when the public generally feels that Jae-yong is not yet ready for the top slot.
Lee said the post of group chairman would remain vacant, but Lee Soo-bin, chairman of Samsung Life Insurance, will represent Samsung externally.
The 70-year-old, considered one of the longest-running executives in Korea, started working for the conglomerate in 1965. Crossing over numerous Samsung subsidiaries, Lee, who is unrelated to the Samsung family, took the top seat at Samsung's insurance arm in 2002.
Company officials said Lee had already been substituting for the chairman in internal and external functions starting this year, when the investigation into the company's illegal slush funds sparked.
Until the top seat is permanently filled, Lee is set to fill the management gap in Samsung's numerous subsidiaries.