Chairman Lee Jae-yong to Attend Eldest Son's Naval Officer Commissioning Ceremony

Lee Jiho to Serve as an Officer After Renouncing U.S. Citizenship
Total Service Period to Be 39 Months Including Mandatory Duty

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is scheduled to attend the commissioning ceremony for his eldest son, Lee Jiho, as a naval officer. On November 14, Yonhap News Agency reported that Chairman Lee is expected to attend the graduation and commissioning ceremony for the 139th class of naval officer candidates, which will be held under the supervision of the Chief of Naval Operations on November 28 at the Naval Academy in Jinhae, Changwon, Gyeongnam Province. Chairman Lee did not attend Lee Jiho's entrance ceremony for officer candidates, which was held on September 15.

Lee Jiho, the eldest son of Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, and others taking the oath at the '139th Naval Officer Candidate Entrance Ceremony' held on the morning of the 23rd at Ungpo Auditorium, Naval Academy, Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam. Photo by Yonhap News

At that time, it was reported that his mother, Lim Seryung, Vice Chairwoman of Daesang Holdings, and his younger sister, Lee Wonjoo, accompanied him to the entrance ceremony. Family members attending this commissioning ceremony typically register with the Naval Academy two weeks in advance, and Chairman Lee is also said to be on the list of attendees. Lee Jiho enlisted as a candidate for the 139th class of naval officer cadets, completed 11 weeks of officer education and training, and will be commissioned as a Navy second lieutenant on November 28. Second lieutenant is the lowest rank among commissioned officers.

Lee Jiho is expected to be commissioned as a naval interpretation officer. Including the training period and the mandatory service period of 36 months after commissioning, his total military service will be 39 months. Born in 2000 while Chairman Lee was studying at Harvard Business School, Lee Jiho was a natural-born dual citizen of the United States and South Korea. After graduating from high school in Canada, he enrolled at Sciences Po in France and later graduated from Columbia University in the United States as an exchange student. Having held dual citizenship, Lee Jiho renounced his U.S. citizenship and chose to become a naval officer. In the business community, his decision to give up U.S. citizenship to fulfill his military duty as a naval officer has been praised as an example of "noblesse oblige."

Jae-yong Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics. Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, attention is also focused on the possibility of a meeting between Chairman Lee and Vice Chairwoman Lim in connection with Lee Jiho's commissioning as an officer, as his mother and younger sister, Lee Wonjoo, are also expected to attend the ceremony. Chairman Lee and Vice Chairwoman Lim have not appeared together in public since their amicable divorce in 2009.

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