Jae-yong Lee to be absent from retrial tomorrow... Reason letter submitted to court today

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is entering the funeral hall at Samsung Seoul Hospital in Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, where the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee's resting place has been set up, along with his son Lee Ji-ho and daughter Lee Won-joo on the 25th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Cho, Gimin Lee] Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will not attend the retrial of the state affairs manipulation case involving bribery, scheduled to begin at 2:05 p.m. on the 26th.

On the afternoon of the 25th, Lee’s side told Asia Economy, "We have submitted a letter of absence to the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 1 (Chief Judge Jung Jun-young), which is handling this case." The reason given was the passing of his father, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee. According to the Criminal Procedure Act, a person who has received a summons or notification for a trial date must submit a doctor's certificate or other documentation if unable to attend due to illness or other reasons. Typically, the death of a parent qualifies as such a reason, so the court is expected to accept Lee’s absence.

Lee’s retrial had been suspended for nine months since January when the special prosecution team led by Park Young-soo filed a motion to disqualify the presiding judge. The reason was that Chief Judge Jung Jun-young was allegedly biased and prejudiced against the defendants. However, the Supreme Court ultimately rejected the special prosecution’s motion last month, allowing the retrial to resume.

During the trial on this day, the court is expected to hear both sides’ opinions on the appointment of a professional investigator to oversee Samsung’s Compliance Committee operations and discuss future procedures. Previously, on the 15th, the court announced its intention to appoint former Constitutional Court Justice Kang Il-won as the professional investigator. The special prosecution has opposed this and requested the court to cancel the decision. It is anticipated that opinions on this matter will be expressed again during the session.

However, there remains a possibility that the court may change the trial date. Initially, the court unusually issued a summons for this preparatory hearing, even though the defendant’s attendance was not mandatory. If the court determines that the trial proceedings cannot proceed without Lee’s presence as originally intended, it may postpone the trial and reschedule the date. The decision on whether to change the date is expected to be made on the morning of the trial day.

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