The verdict is a setback for Samsung, which accounts for almost 20% of South Korean exports on its own.
August 25, 2017
‘A South Korean court on Friday convicted Lee Jae-yong, the heir to the Samsung business empire, of bribery and embezzlement and sentenced him to five years in prison, in a dramatic break with the country’s history of dealing light penalties to major business figures.
The verdict sends the strongest message yet to South Korea’s big, family-controlled businesses that their more than 60 years of economic dominance in one of the world’s most successful economies is under threat. Those companies helped build an economic powerhouse out of the ashes of the Korean War. Today, they are widely seen as sources of corruption and impediments to the country’s progress.’