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Samsung pardon exposes Koreans’ love-hate feelings for tycoons | Business and Economy

Mount Equity Group Tokyo Japan > News > Business > Samsung pardon exposes Koreans’ love-hate feelings for tycoons | Business and Economy

Seoul, South Korea – When US President Joe Biden visited South Korea in May, his first stop was a massive Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant south of Seoul.

Acting as Biden’s tour guide was Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of Samsung, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, which has ramped up production of the chips in recent years to maintain an edge in the fiercely competitive sector.

The optics of the visit were key for Lee, who, like many South Korean business tycoons, has a chequered past. Appearing with Biden was part of a process of rehabilitating Lee’s image following a criminal conviction, analysts say.

That process culminated in South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday naming Lee among the recipients of a presidential pardon on the occasion of Liberation Day, which marks the end of Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of Korea.

Lee’s appearance at the factory, and the optics of a US president prioritising…

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