Woojin Kim, Samsung Subcommittee Vice Chair, "Inducing Lee Jae-yong's Statement on 4th Generation Succession Renunciation, Subcommittee's Greatest Achievement"

Jungamwi Announces 2022 Annual Report
Interview with Committee Member Kim Woo-jin on 1st and 2nd Term Activities

Kim Woo-jin, a member of the Samsung Compliance Committee, stated on the 29th that the greatest achievement during his activities on the Samsung Compliance Committee was "bringing about Chairman Lee Jae-yong's statement to forgo the 4th-generation succession at Samsung Electronics."

On the same day, the Samsung Compliance Committee released the annual compliance monitoring activity report for last year related to seven affiliates: Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung SDS, Samsung Life Insurance, and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance.

When asked to name the single best achievement during the 1st and 2nd committee terms, Kim said, "It was bringing about Chairman Lee's statement in May 2020 declaring that he would not pursue 4th-generation succession."

At that time, Chairman Lee apologized for violations of compliance obligations that occurred during the management succession process and announced his decision to forgo 4th-generation management. He said, "Many controversies surrounding me and Samsung fundamentally stem from the succession issue," and added, "I clearly promise here that I will no longer pass on the company’s management rights to my children to prevent further controversies related to succession."

Kim said, "Given the increasing social interest and scrutiny regarding succession issues in chaebol groups, I believe Chairman Lee's statement was sincere."

Kim Woo-jin, member of the Samsung Compliance Monitoring Committee.
[Photo by Samsung Compliance Monitoring Committee Annual Report]

Amid numerous practical issues related to controlling shareholder power, Kim attributed significance to bringing about Chairman Lee’s statement. He pointed out that the key issues reviewed by the Compliance Committee included ▲the fact that the designation of the same person as controlling shareholder has continued with the son of the controlling shareholder ▲the need to establish realistic conditions for the company to operate properly without controlling shareholder power ▲and the difficulty of being free from political influence when there is no controlling family dominating the company, as seen in cases like POSCO or KT. He then said, "Despite these issues, bringing about Chairman Lee’s statement is the Compliance Committee’s greatest achievement."

Kim, a professor at Seoul National University’s College of Business Administration, has served as a member of the 1st and 2nd Compliance Committees since its launch in February 2020.

The 2nd Compliance Committee held 33 regular and extraordinary meetings (including written resolutions) from February last year to May this year. Last year, it conducted activities to realize three key tasks: human rights-first management, fair and transparent management, and ESG (environment, social, and governance) management, and held meetings with Chairman Lee and CEOs of related companies.

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