Lee Chan-hee, Vice Chairman of Samsung Compliance Committee, on "Rejoining FKI, Eradicating Collusion Between Politics and Business"

Preliminary Remarks at the Jun-Gamwi Interim Meeting on the 16th
"Considering FKI Reform Plan... Will Not Support Blindly"

Lee Chan-hee, Chairman of Samsung's Compliance Committee, said on the 16th that Samsung's rejoining of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) is "a matter of whether Samsung can truly sever the ties of collusion between politics and business."

Before attending the Compliance Committee's emergency meeting held at Samsung Life Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 16th, Chairman Lee responded to a reporter's question about "the biggest concern regarding rejoining the FKI" with this statement.

Regarding the reform plan proposed by the FKI as part of the organizational restructuring of the Korea Economic Association (KEA), Chairman Lee said, "We have thoroughly reviewed it," and added, "Rather than blind approval or unconditional criticism, we will do our best to make decisions that can establish healthy compliance management at Samsung and contribute to national economic development through the Compliance Committee's review."

When asked about whether he supports rejoining the FKI, he said, "Nothing has been decided yet," and "I will listen to opinions freely with the committee members."

Lee Chan-hee, Chairman of Samsung Compliance Committee (center), speaking before entering the temporary meeting of the Compliance Committee held on the morning of the 16th at Samsung Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Moon Chae-seok]

At the emergency meeting on the same day, the Compliance Committee will discuss the rejoining of five Samsung affiliates under the FKI-affiliated Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI): Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, and Samsung Securities. The outcome of Samsung's Compliance Committee discussions is expected to have a decisive impact not only on Samsung but also on whether the four major conglomerates?SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG?will return to the FKI. If the FKI changes its name to the Korea Economic Association at the emergency general meeting, absorbs and integrates KERI, and transfers the membership list, the affiliates of the four major groups that were members of KERI can rejoin the KEA.

It is known that the boards of directors of Samsung affiliates will meet before the FKI emergency general meeting. Samsung has previously agreed to dissolve KERI after three meetings held by the CFOs of the five affiliates and reporting to each company's CEO. The automatic succession of KERI membership will be decided after discussions by the board and the Compliance Committee.

For the four major groups to return to the FKI, all affiliates of Samsung (five companies), SK (SK Inc., SK Innovation, SK Telecom, SK Networks), Hyundai Motor (Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Construction, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Steel), and LG (LG Corp., LG Electronics) must decide to rejoin before the FKI emergency general meeting scheduled for the 22nd. Recently, there have also been talks that the POSCO Group is considering rejoining the FKI.

There are also rumors within Samsung that as a precondition for rejoining, the FKI must obtain approval from the Compliance Committee when contributing to the Korea-Japan Future Fund, a 2 billion KRW fund (1 billion KRW from the Korean side) jointly established with Japan's Keidanren. A Compliance Committee official said, "It is difficult to confirm the specific agenda of the emergency meeting."

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