Samsung Establishes Compliance Oversight Committee... Former Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyung Appointed as Chairperson

Samsung Electronics, Banolim (an association of leukemia victims), and the Semiconductor Leukemia Mediation Committee held a "Signing Ceremony for the Second Mediation Resumption Agreement" on the 24th at the law firm Jipyung in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, signing the agreement. From the left: Hwang Sang-gi, CEO of Banolim; Kim Ji-hyung, Chairman of the Mediation Committee; Kim Sun-sik, Executive Director of Samsung Electronics. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Samsung Group is establishing a 'Compliance Oversight Committee.' The chairman is expected to be former Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyung (currently the lead attorney at the law firm Jipyung), who previously led the Samsung Electronics Leukemia Issue Mediation Committee. This move is interpreted as a 'response' to the order from the retrial court of Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics to establish an internal compliance monitoring system.

According to Samsung Electronics and legal circles on the 2nd, Samsung has decided to form the Compliance Oversight Committee and selected former Justice Kim as its chairman. A Samsung Electronics official said, "Former Justice Kim has been appointed, and preparations related to this are underway internally at Samsung."

This is the second time former Justice Kim has been appointed as chairman of a Samsung consultative body. Previously, from 2014 to 2018, he served as chairman of the Samsung Electronics Leukemia Issue Mediation Committee, and in 2018, he was chairman of the Support and Compensation Committee for leukemia patients, earning praise for effectively resolving conflicts between the company and the patients.

Recognized as an expert in constitutional and labor law, former Justice Kim is classified along with former Justices Kim Young-ran, Jeon Su-an, Park Si-hwan, and Lee Hong-hoon as a 'progressive Supreme Court Justice representing the 2000s.' After retiring from the Supreme Court in 2011, he has been active in various fields, including chairing the fact-finding committee on the Guui Station accident in 2016, the public deliberation committee for Shin-Kori Units 5 and 6 in 2017, the fact-finding committee related to the death of Kim Yong-gyun last year, and serving as the civilian chairman of the Presidential Regulatory Reform Review Committee.

Samsung Electronics' establishment of the Compliance Oversight Committee appears to be a measure responding to the demands of the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Jung Jun-young), which is handling the retrial of Vice Chairman Lee.

Earlier, at the first hearing of Vice Chairman Lee's retrial in October last year, Judge Jung ordered ▲bold innovation ▲establishment of an internal compliance monitoring system ▲rectification of the evils of the chaebol system. He stated at the time, "If a compliance monitoring system that even the head of the conglomerate feared had been operating within Samsung Group, such crimes (the state manipulation scandal) would not have been conceivable," and added, "I hope you refer to Chapter 8 of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines and the effective monitoring systems implemented by American large corporations in this regard."

Judge Jung also demanded at the third hearing on December 6 last year that Samsung bring a group-level response to political bribery demands by the fourth hearing scheduled for January 17 this year.

Within the business community, amid the ongoing retrial of Vice Chairman Lee, the simultaneous adverse events of Samsung Electronics Chairman of the Board Lee Sang-hoon and Vice President Kang Kyung-hoon being legally detained on charges of union disruption have led to expectations that Samsung will continue to announce follow-up measures starting with the Compliance Oversight Committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.