Samsung boss responds to bribery probe: "I am responsible"

Lee Kun-hee, Samsung's 66 year old chairman and son of the company's founder, made a potentially damning announcement over the weekend. Following 11 hours of interrogation by prosecutors into allegations of bribery and maintaining a slush fund (among other improprieties), Lee said, "This is all due to my carelessness. I am responsible for everything and must take responsibility." We won't know for sure until the investigation is complete. However, the statement is less likely an admission of guilt than it is an attempt to appease the people of South Korea where the Samsung "chaebol" is more than just a brand, it's a national symbol of pride... at least it was.

[Ninjakamster @ Apr 7th 2008 2:45AM]

I'm sorry, but I just thought of Yoda looking at his pic. : )

[randompass @ Apr 7th 2008 4:36AM]

"guilty of bribery I am"

[Esat Dedezade @ Apr 7th 2008 4:43AM]

Prepare to take a trip down 'Highly Ranked' boulevard my friend.

[kingofwale @ Apr 7th 2008 3:07AM]

Carelessness???

So, I take it that he's not sorry about bribing people, only that he was CARELESS enough to get caught?

Maybe this time he won't be so careless when he bribes the judge, no?

[dmdallas @ Apr 7th 2008 8:35AM]

really, the way that was phrased, it made it sound like he was taking responsibility for his company's actions, not his own personal actions. So, he was careless in not overseeing what was going on.

Or I could be misreading that horribly.

[The General @ Apr 7th 2008 3:09AM]

Lee Kun-hee is not amused.

[thef1re @ Apr 7th 2008 3:13AM]

He said this under interrogation. And what have we seen from interrogations in the past? ahem.

[Austin Lee @ Apr 7th 2008 3:18AM]

mmm...without getting into a detailed history lesson on chaebols (both documented and undocumented), samsung will still be one of korea's pride a joy..bribery or not. bribery is pretty rampant in korea as is other emerging market countries. the distinction is that in developed countries they are called "lobbying" or "wife and children on campaign payroll"

[OGHowie @ Apr 7th 2008 4:15AM]

So true.

[TRLK @ Apr 7th 2008 5:45AM]

I beg to differ
While Sammy may have been the pride and joy 5 years ago, things have changed quite a lot, especially recently.
After numerous successive allegations of corruption, the public opinion of sammy is not all too well

[Isak? @ Apr 7th 2008 7:28AM]

I'm with TRLK on this. I asked Korean's whart phone to buy and they flat-out samsung was overpriced junk. They said LG was okay, but seemed to think anything japanese was the way to go. It's weird seeing this mentality too. LG, and Samsung, are everywhere but they all seem to want Sony, and Fuji everything.

Samsung is on the edge.

[ekwmin @ Apr 7th 2008 11:43AM]

I agree, this is typical in Korea. Every time there's a power shift in government they clean house. Any company that's not backing them will be under the scope. Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung, LG, it's like a merry-go-round. Who's next?

[crescentdavid @ Apr 7th 2008 4:09AM]

"I am responsible." Three words you'll never hear from an american CEO.

[Tim @ Apr 7th 2008 4:16PM]

yea no kidding.

So, does he have to fall on his katana now, or whats the deal with that?

[Xell @ Apr 7th 2008 4:14AM]

meh, I don't see the big deal. This is business baby!

[Andrew @ Apr 7th 2008 8:54AM]

11 hours of interrogation?!

So they all but beat a confession out of him, then?

[Brandon @ Apr 7th 2008 11:59AM]

Samsung's lawyer won't let that happen. It would be more like, 10 and 1/2 hours of staying in hotel with nice ladies and 1/2 hours of answering some questions. Samsung's political influence in Korea is as powerful as white house in USA. They're only being investigated because too many Koreans criticize their corruptness and election was coming...

[sinai @ Apr 7th 2008 12:08PM]

YOU DISRESPECT FAMIRY!!!!

It's plain to see he did it to save Samsung as a company, rather than save his own hide and taking the company down with him (ENRON, WorldCom...). it's refreshing to get something much different from the American standard of "plead innocent after proven guilty.

[Michael @ Apr 7th 2008 9:00PM]

Clearly, the next step is seppuku.

[slipperywhenwet @ Apr 7th 2008 10:03PM]

His claim that he is responsible is a pathetic attempt to appear as if he has integrity. What he's really saying is that he's only responsible for getting caught.

The people here are generally pissed about his level of corruption, but Koreans for the most part accept corruption as a fact of life.

[Davidoseven @ Apr 7th 2008 10:34PM]

i don't think that koreans have seppuku....

[Davidoseven @ Apr 7th 2008 10:34PM]

sorry...wrong person..

[Michael @ Apr 7th 2008 10:30PM]

Many features between the two devices are similar. What may be the Instinct's saving grace is that it will be more affordable. Sprint is gambling that customers will be willing to part with $200 if they believe that the Instinct has enough same or comparable features as the iPhone.

With the iPhone, customers are forced to pay for the 8 or 16 GB of memory up-front. With the Instinct, they can add an 8GB card later to expand music storage if they choose to. The included memory is adequate for a few applications and of course the phone book and ringers.

Also, the EVDO Rev. A network that the Instinct works on is superior to the EDGE network for sure and I believe covers a larger area than AT&T's HSUPA network. Obviously Samsung made some cost-cutting moves by using a smaller screen with a lower resolution and less color depth, but most people don't spend all day watching video on their phones, at least I don't plan to.

While the iPhone has been popular with many people, I will definitely consider it if a 3G version is released, the Instinct seems to have a lot of features for not a lot of money.

[Nelson @ Apr 8th 2008 12:45AM]

"Sh*t you caught me... now about that raise"