Samsung scion says ‘no smartphone for 3 years’ led to admission at Korea’s top university

Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin and her son, Lee Dong-hyun, enter the Lee Kun-hee Collection gala at the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., Jan. 28. Yonhap

Lim Dong-hyun, the son of Hotel Shilla President Lee Boo-jin and the grandson of late former Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, entered Seoul National University in December.

According to sources in the private education industry and reports by Maeil Business Newspaper, Lim appeared as a guest speaker at a private cram school in Daechi-dong, Seoul, during a briefing session for first-year students from Whimoon High School.

He shared how he gained admission to the country’s most prestigious university, offering advice on preparing for the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and recommending students to refrain from using smartphones for three years.

His advice included outlining strategies for managing grades and tips for the exams.

The session reportedly included a presentation titled "A Regret-Free Whimoon High School Life," examples of exam problems he solved to illustrate his problem-solving approach and a Q&A session that drew participation from a sizable number of parents.

Lim also shared his personal approach to preparing for the CSAT during the session.

For the Korean language section, he stressed the importance of precise reading comprehension and repeated practice using past exam questions. While taking multiple mock exams is recommendable, students should be careful of poorly constructed questions that rely on weak logic.

“Such exposure can foster flawed reasoning habits and ultimately lead to incorrect answers,” he said.

For mathematics, preparation for questions requiring analytical reasoning is essential, meaning students should work through a high volume of problems to build good instincts, Lim told students.

“This is especially true for the Education Ministry’s June and September mock exams. For analytical reasoning questions in these tests, students should develop their own solving methods.”

The talk also underscored the importance of self-restraint, with a strong recommendation to completely cut off smartphones and video games for three years.

“It is challenging, but I can say with confidence that it greatly improves focus and helps students fully immerse themselves in their studies,” he said. “The sense of enjoyment when it finally ends, after three long years, was something I deeply savored.”

Lim was admitted to Seoul National University’s economics department last December under the early admission track for the 2026 academic year. He maintained top-tier grades throughout middle and high school before earning exceptionally high scores on CSAT.

Lim will share an alma mater with his uncle, Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who entered Seoul National University 39 years earlier and majored in Asian history.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.