Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to be released on the 13th... Business circles say "K-semiconductor needs a central figure"

Parole Decision Review Committee to Meet This Afternoon
Vice Chairman Lee Advances to Final Review After Preliminary Screening
Heads of Five Economic Organizations to Meet Deputy Prime Minister Hong on the 11th
Vice Chairman Lee's Pardon Necessity Expected to Be Discussed

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] The decision on whether to grant parole to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will be made on the afternoon of the 9th. The business community views the approval of Lee's parole as a turning point not only for Samsung's future but also for the future of K-semiconductors. With public consensus on Lee's parole or pardon confirmed through opinion polls, attention is focused on what conclusion the Ministry of Justice will reach.

According to the legal community, at 2 p.m. on the same day, the Ministry of Justice will hold a parole review committee meeting at the Government Gwacheon Complex to discuss the eligibility of candidates. The review committee is chaired by Kang Sung-guk, Vice Minister of Justice, and consists of two internal members, including Gu Ja-hyun, Director of the Prosecutor's Office, and Yoo Byung-chul, Director of Corrections Headquarters, along with five external members.

The committee will decide the final eligibility by considering factors such as the percentage of sentence served, risk of recidivism, correctional performance, motive for the crime, and social legal sentiment based on the list of candidates. Vice Chairman Lee has met the minimum requirement of serving at least 60% of his sentence for parole and has been classified as a model prisoner, placing him on the preliminary parole review list at Seoul Detention Center. He is included in the final review by the committee on this day.

While the business community is optimistic about the possibility of parole, fierce opposition from civic groups and the fact that Lee has other ongoing trials could remain variables until the very end. If the committee approves parole, Lee is expected to be released on August 13, ahead of Liberation Day.

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is answering questions from reporters about the parole of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong as he arrives at the Ministry of Justice building in Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi Province on the 9th. Photo by Yonhap News

The outcome of the committee's decision on this day will inevitably have a significant impact not only on Samsung but also on the future of K-semiconductors and the national economy. Last year, semiconductors accounted for nearly 20% of South Korea's exports, nearly doubling compared to ten years ago. From a shareholder economy perspective, six out of ten domestic individual investors hold Samsung Electronics shares. In terms of fostering the semiconductor industry, a key resource leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as the household income of domestic individual investors, the importance of a company like Samsung Electronics is increasingly emphasized.

However, concerns have recently emerged that Samsung is falling behind in the investment race for semiconductor supremacy. Samsung announced plans to invest $17 billion to build and expand semiconductor foundry plants in the United States but is still weighing options regarding the site.

Moreover, although Samsung pledged to secure new growth engines through meaningful mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within three years, critics argue that three years is too long a period as competitors like Intel and TSMC are expanding investments in a fierce race for technological superiority. Lee Chang-han, Vice Chairman of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association, said, "Large-scale investments such as semiconductor investments or M&A require someone responsible for the company to make decisions," adding, "Samsung's decision-making momentum has weakened due to the absence of the top decision-maker, Vice Chairman Lee."

Five heads of economic organizations plan to actively raise the issue of Lee's pardon when they meet Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, on the 11th. Their position is that a pardon is necessary rather than parole to resolve issues such as unrestricted overseas business trips and employment restrictions after release and to enable a normal return to management.

Meanwhile, advice has also been offered that the widespread ‘anti-corporate sentiment’ in Korean society must first be resolved for Lee's return to management. According to an opinion poll conducted at the end of July by Asia Economy through Win-G Korea Consulting, 66.2% of respondents supported Lee's pardon or parole. Regarding this shift in public opinion, some foreign media outlets, including Nihon Keizai, have analyzed that "there is a change occurring in the deeply rooted anti-corporate sentiment in Korean society."

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