WEBVTT - The Samsung Story Part 2 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:12.559 Get in text with technology with tex Stuff from dot com. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.400 Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.880 Jonathan Strickland, senior writer for house stuff Works dot com. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.959 And today we're going to pick up where we left 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.360 off in our last episode about the history of Samsung. 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:27.760 So if you have not listened to the previous episode, 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.800 you should probably go back and do that because I 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.800 cover a lot of basic ground in that show. That 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.800 includes an overview of the conditions in Korea leading up 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.440 to the founding of Samsung up to the stage where 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.680 the company finally got into the electronics industry. Because Samsung, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.280 as it turns out, is a conglomeration of companies that 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.879 do lots of different things. Electronics is just part of it. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.560 It's one of the more forward facing components, especially outside 0:00:55.560 --> 0:01:00.960 of Korea, but it's just one element of the overall company. Also, 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.840 keep in mind, I'm talking about a Korean company with 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.640 a lot of Korean names, So again I apologize right 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.240 up front for the numerous occasions I'm sure I will 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.120 mispronounce Korean names. It is not through any lack of respect, 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.679 but rather just a simple ignorance of the correct pronunciations 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.240 for that language. I will do the best I can. However, 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.840 it will get a little confusing because I'm gonna talk 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.480 a lot about the family who who is in charge 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.800 of Samsung, and there are an awful lot of them, 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.319 But we will get to that a bit later. Now, 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.440 if you remember, I left off at the point when 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.360 Samsung began to produce its first televisions and washing machines. 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:45.160 That brings us up to the nineteen seventies. So what 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.000 was going on in Korea during that time? Well you 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:51.720 might remember then the last episode, I told you that 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.600 Korea had come under the rule of a military leader, 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:00.320 a general named Bak Jong he or also sometimes spelled 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:06.040 Park Chung he Uh. These names are Anglicized versions of 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.480 the Korean names, so often it's as close to an 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:14.280 approximation of an anglicized pronunciation as we can get. So 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.040 there are different spellings uh. Park chung y is probably 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.440 the most common, but I've also seen Bak Jong key 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.200 same person. However, In fact, this is a good time 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:26.120 for me to mention this. In the previous episode, I 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.120 talked about a US backed leader, and I talked about 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.400 him a lot. I said Li sungman Um and also 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.560 mentioned a man named Sing man Ri. Both of those 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.520 names are actually the same person. Uh. See, in the 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.200 western world, we will say a person's uh surname last, 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.280 But in Asia and many Asian cultures at any rate, 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:51.240 you say the surname first. So Lee is the surname 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.920 Li Sungman or sing Manrie is the way that we 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.079 often see. It's spelled um, depending upon the source you're 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.519 looking at. So I know it gets a little confusing, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.760 but these are the same people. They're just anglicized versions 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.880 of the name. Anyway, let's go back to Park Chung He, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:10.560 the general, the person who had been in charge of 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:15.160 South Korea in nineteen seventy two. He put the country 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.119 under martial law and solidified his power in South Korea, 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:23.799 they would hold elections and Park Chung He would win 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.359 those elections. But there were a lot of people who 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.320 essentially said that Park Chung he was really just a 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.560 military dictator. Just a military dictator is probably the wrong 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.040 way of saying it, but he was a military dictator 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.040 as opposed to a legally elected president according to whom 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.840 you ask. Meanwhile, at the same time, South Korea government 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.760 officials were starting up talks with their counterparts in North 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:52.280 Korea and the two countries talked about wanting to reunite, 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.400 to have a reunification of Korea. They said that there 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.360 were a lot of requirements for that. One of the 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:02.160 big ones was that they demand did no outside interference. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.520 They didn't want other entities coming into Korea to try 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.600 and guide the process. Remember, Korea had been the subject 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.080 of a lot of interference from the Soviet Union, from 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:17.400 the United States of America before that, Japan, and China, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.440 so they were really determined to do this themselves. But 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:25.400 spoiler alert, that never really happened. In nineteen seventy nine, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:31.400 the head of the Korean Intelligence Service, Kim jgu, assassinated 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:36.760 Park Chung he So, the head of the Korean version 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.480 of the c i A, assassinated the president of the country. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.719 After that, there was a brief period of civilian rule 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:50.440 where the Prime Minister assumed roles of the president before 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.520 another general, This one fellow by the name of General 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:59.080 Chu dou Pan sees power in nineteen eighty and thus 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:02.840 returned the country to a dictatorship with token elections, and 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.040 that would continue to be the case until the late 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:08.920 nineteen eighties. So Korea still had a tumultuous and often 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:14.880 violent uh power structure, with people struggling to rule the 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.120 country in different ways. Remember, even though you know you 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.440 would say that that Park Chung he was a dictator, 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.440 he was largely seen as someone who worked very hard 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:31.200 to improve conditions in Korea, So it wasn't just exploiting 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.800 his power, at least not in the view of many people. However, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:39.440 that being said, he also wasn't willing to have a 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.880 transition of that power, and thus eventually he was assassinated. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.120 So very complicated political structure in Korea at the time, 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.400 and despite all that political chaos, Samsung continued to do well. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:54.880 I'll talk more about how they did that a little 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.240 bit later in this episode. The company had, for one thing, 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.480 diversified quite a bit. It was getting into so many 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.919 different industries and it was playing a key component in 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.520 the economy of South Korea. It was also creating Korean 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:13.080 electronics with Korean parts, so they weren't importing elements and 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:16.760 then building television sets and then selling them. They were 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.640 making all of this stuff piece by piece. This helped 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.279 established Korea as one of what was called the Four 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:28.360 Little Dragons. The Four Little Dragons were nations in East 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:34.000 Asia that were very rapidly expanding economically and technologically, and 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:39.320 they also included Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, so these 0:06:39.480 --> 0:06:44.719 Asian countries were really quickly catching up to other nations 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:50.279 like Japan and China. In nineteen seventy seven, Samsung began 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:54.320 producing color televisions and exporting them to Panama. So this 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.160 was a humble step towards Samsung becoming a global player 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.800 in consumer electronics. Before that, they had really been selling 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.440 mainly to to South Korea, but now they were expanding 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:10.920 beyond that, and they were determined to really continue this 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.520 level of success with all different types of electronics. Around 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.880 the same time, Samsung began to produce other products in 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:23.120 consumer electronics, including air conditioners, which I have covered in 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.480 previous episodes of tech Stuff and the microwave, And there 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.200 is also a classic episode of tech Stuff about how 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.440 the microwave works. So I'm not going to go into 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.520 a full explanation, but because this episode is going to 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:39.239 be a lot about corporate politics and actual politics because 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:43.920 of the complicated uh nature of Korean business, I thought 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.480 why not go ahead and have at least a brief 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.960 explanation on the science slash technology side of microwaves to 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.160 really have this podcast earned the name of tech stuff, 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.640 because otherwise we're just gonna be talking about lots of economics, politics, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:01.360 and and and very complicated issue. So I'm gonna give 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.600 you some highlights of how microwave ovens work. So the 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:09.720 radiation microwaves UM microwaves are in the electromagnetic spectrum in 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:15.200 between infrared and radio waves, so they are longer waves 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.920 than visible light. Microwave ovens produced microwaves that are frequency 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.560 of two point four or five giga hurts. That's two 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.640 point four or five billion wave lengths passing through a 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:30.600 given point within a second. Now, certain stuff like fats, sugars, 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.280 and water absorb waves that are at this two point 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:38.720 four or five giga hurts frequency. As they absorb those waves, 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.640 their atoms begin to get excited. That means they start 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.960 to move around, and we call this heat. Right, If 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.920 atoms are moving around a lot, they they are warm, 0:08:48.960 --> 0:08:50.960 they're giving off heat, and they're giving off that form 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:55.440 of energy. Likewise, if you apply heat to materials, you 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.120 start to make their atoms move around more rapidly. So 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:04.280 stuff like glass, ceramics, and plastics do not absorb waves 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.720 at that frequency. So if you were to put a 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:12.320 glass like a glass uh container in a microwave and 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.280 you turned it on, and then you took the glass 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.840 container out, assuming there was nothing on it to heat 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.640 up to absorb those microwaves, it should not be really 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.680 any significantly warmer to the touch. So that's why the 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.119 food and a microwave will heat up, but the containers 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.480 do not. Metal, by the way, reflects microwaves, which is 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:35.120 why the interior of most microwave ovens tends to be metallic. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.319 It's to reflect waves back into the oven in order 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:40.480 to give the food a better chance at absorbing the 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:43.080 waves and heating up and cooking in the process. This 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.640 is also why we say that this this kind of 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.360 food cooks from the inside out, uh And you're not 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.320 applying any heat to a surface, so you don't get 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.080 that seared nature you would get if you were to say, 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:01.000 cook in a pan. One other thing, microwaves are not 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:05.280 a form of ionizing radiation. That means that the waves 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:09.600 don't carry enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules, or 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.400 to simplify it even further, it means microwaves don't pack 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.839 enough of a punch to strip electrons away from atoms. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:23.640 Ionizing radiation includes stuff like ultra violet radiation, X rays, 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.960 and gamma rays, and they do have enough energy to 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.520 strip away electrons, and if you are exposed to that 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.880 sort of radiation, you can suffer immediate and long term 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.559 damage as a result. So in a short term, very 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.599 brief exposure, you might suffer burns. In the case of 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.920 ultra violet radiation, it may take a little bit longer 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:45.679 for you to actually suffer burns, but you know that's 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.480 what sunburn is. In the long run, you're talking about 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.160 bigger risks like cancer, so you want to really minimize 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.200 your exposure to ionizing radiation. But happily microwaves are not 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.319 in that category, nor are radio waves. It's the stuff 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.040 and those those uh, bigger wavelengths, they don't have the 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.680 energy to do that, which is why you shouldn't have 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:10.280 to worry about microwaves or radio waves or anything like 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.640 that causing you any harm. They just don't have the 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.200 energy to do that to you. Whereas X rays, gamma rays, 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.480 that kind of stuff certainly has that sort of energy. Now, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:22.640 if you want to learn more about how microwaves work, 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.560 including how they actually generate the microwave radiation in the 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.680 first place. Make sure you check out that classic Tech 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:35.880 Stuff episode. It is titled how Microwave Ovens Work. Yeah, 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.920 we thought long and hard about that title. Anyway, that 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:44.559 episode came out way back on March one. Let's get 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:49.160 back to Samsung. In nineteen eighty, Samsung made another big acquisition. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.520 Remember that's how this company was really growing. It was 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.080 buying up other companies and getting involved in as many 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.120 different industries as possible. This time it was a telecommunications 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.760 hardware company, Hangook Jinja tongs In. The number one product 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.280 the company made was telephone switchboards, so they were starting 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.960 to install more telephone infrastructure in Korea. Samsung soon expanded 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:15.400 this to produce telephone and faxt systems, and much later 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.480 on mobile phones. More on Samsung's mobile phones. A bit later, 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:26.520 Samsung expanded the operations of its electronics division into other nations, 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:29.240 including the United Kingdom in the US, and the company 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.160 had become an empire. And that's when it lost its emperor. 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:38.040 It was and Lie Byong Chol, who was the man 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.839 who founded Samsung when he was just twenty eight years old, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.920 passed away. Now, if you listen to our last episode. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.320 You know, he had come from a wealthy family to 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.040 begin with, but his company had elevated him and his 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:57.960 family to truly wealthy status billionaires. Now at the time 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.160 of his death, he had one of the large just 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:03.720 private collections of Korean art in all of the nation, 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.360 which was opened up to the public after his passing. 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.840 He had ten children, six daughters and four sons. There 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.720 were also rumors of him having other children with other 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:19.120 women besides his wife in Korea, but that was a rumor. 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.000 That the family is very secretive in the first place, 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:27.400 so it's not like this was necessarily open information. Now 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.160 at the end of this podcast, I'm going to trace 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:34.160 the very complicated history of Lee's family. I'll do this 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.640 because in Korea it is still traditional for families to 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.959 keep control over businesses, so you can inherit a position 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.760 of leadership in a company. The world, a board of 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.959 directors and choosing a CEO isn't the way things are 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.960 done in Korea, at least not for a lot of companies. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.000 They follow a more traditional pathway uh and that has 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.440 caused some constern nation. As it turns out, now the 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.000 company split into four are major business groups that eventually 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.720 became their own individual companies, and at least according to 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.280 the people running those companies, have nothing to do directly 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:17.319 with one another anymore. Those include the Shinsega Group or 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.400 sinse I Guess Group, i should say, which is mostly 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.480 concerned with retail businesses, you know, department stores, that kind 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.920 of thing. There's the c J Group, which includes businesses 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:32.720 in food, chemical, entertainment industries. There's the Hensaul Group, which 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.680 includes telecommunications and paper manufacturing industries. And then you have 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.280 the Samsung Group, which is pretty much everything else. So 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.120 for right now, the only important thing you need to 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.280 remember is that Lieb Young Chu, the founder of Samsung, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:51.200 died in and I'll try to focus exclusively on Samsung 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:54.000 Electronics from here on out, though I should mention the 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:58.960 company as a whole consisted of eighties smaller companies at 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.200 one point or another or eighty. It was a really 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.920 a conglomerate in the true sense of the word. It 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:09.560 was a company filled with other companies. Many, in fact, 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:13.280 most of those companies had nothing to do with consumer electronics. 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.720 In the late eighties and early nineties, Samsung Electronics began 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.400 opening manufacturing facilities in different parts of the world. The 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:24.840 company was really making a name for itself, becoming a 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.720 global player in the electronics space. This is pretty remarkable 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.200 when you remember that companies like Sony had been in 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:35.640 the electronics industry for decades, whereas Samsung really only began 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:39.240 to dive into it in nineteen sixty nine nineteen seventy, 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.000 so they had a lot of catching up to do. 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.280 Samsung continued to expand the types of electronics it produced 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.000 in the nineteen eighties, like I said, with air conditioners 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:50.920 and microwaves starting off, but by nine eight three the 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.960 company also began to get into the personal computer business. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.920 The very first Samsung computer was the SPC one thousand, 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.800 which came out in March nine three, and it was 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:06.720 an eight bit personal computer which looked more like a 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:11.880 giant electronic typewriter. It had sixty four whole kilobytes of 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:16.480 RAM and about four mega hurts processor. Yeah, it was 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.200 from the time it was, you know, it was good, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.880 but by today's standards, it is it is almost laughably underpowered. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.480 But we have Moore's Law to thank for that. The 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.320 computer included the keyboard, a game pad, external disk drives, 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.400 and a TV like monitor and you would hook them 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.160 all up and then you'd be able to run stuff 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:44.479 using the DOSS operating system good times. In four Samsung 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:48.120 began to export VCRs to the United States. And I've 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.840 covered VCRs in the past, including a deep dive on 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.360 the format wars between VHS and Beta Max, so I'm 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:56.480 not going to really dive into it again. Here you 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.720 can listen to that classic episode of tech Stuff if 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.360 you like. And a ninety eight six, Samsung created what 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:08.000 was then the smallest videotape recorder, four millimeter video tape recorder. 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.520 By the end of the nineteen eighties, the company's products 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.320 could be found on store shelves around the world, so 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:18.320 they really made rapid progress. From the mid seventies up 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.359 to the late eighties, TVs were still leading the way, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:26.359 with Samsung's twenty million color television produced in nineteen eighty nine. 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.040 The company developed its first mobile phone handset in nineteen 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.800 though it would continue to work on the software side 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:37.920 and the systems side for another year. By two, Samsung 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.239 had become the global leader in producing memory chips for 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:45.640 electronics so essentially RAM and it fell only behind Intel 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.600 for chip making in general, so Intel was the number 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:55.959 one producer of computer chips in and Samsung was number two, again, 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.320 a remarkable story for a company that had only recently 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:04.080 started to get into electronics at all. Samsung pioneered work 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.600 and building l c D displays in the mid nineties, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.359 and if you listen to my History of TV series, 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.040 you know that the l c D panels really helped 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.600 push televisions into a new era, allowing for a thinner 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:20.000 form factor and flat screen TVs. Samsung Electronics would end 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.359 up making millions of dollars by licensing l c D 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.040 panel technology to other companies that became a chief source 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.199 of revenue for the for the Samsung Electronics division. Also 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:37.000 in Samsung began manufacturing in China and producing computer components 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.600 such as RAM and hard disk drives, with a two 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:43.919 fifty megabyte drive released that year, which again sounds like 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.119 nothing at all two and fifty megabytes. I mean, you 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.800 can get multi gigs on a single flash drive these days, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.360 but back then it was pretty impressive. Samsung was also 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.920 producing industrial robots at this time and managed to hit 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:00.840 the ten million products ship by the end of nine 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.040 and by products, i'm talking specifically robots. They produced ten 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.840 million industrial robots by the end of nineteen two. That's 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.800 pretty incredible. Now I've got a lot more to talk 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.879 about with Samsung's electronics, but before I dive into the 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.920 next section, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:29.400 In nineteen ninety three, Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology, also 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:33.440 known as s a I T or SAITE, developed the 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:38.800 first digital versatile disc recorder or DVD R device. I 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.159 guess I mean it couldn't have been the DVD we 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:45.320 all know because that didn't exist in nine That wouldn't 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:50.880 be introduced until as a joint project between Sony and Panasonic. Honestly, 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.080 I'm not really sure how Samsung's device fits into the 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.040 history of DVDs and dvd rs. In particular, I found 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:03.000 the entry that the company first produced this first DVD 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:09.600 R on Samsung's actual website, so this is according to 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.240 the company itself. But that really strikes me as strange 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.920 because as far as I know, the standard didn't really 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.600 exist until So how do you produce a product two 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.879 years before you've figured out the standard. It's possible that 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.800 the entry is erroneous, but it did come from Samsung itself, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.159 so I thought it would include it. So you know 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:31.439 grain of salt. It may very well be that they 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.080 produced a DVD R on an early version of what 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.879 would become the standard in but it just seems a 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:42.080 bit early to me. Totally possible, just something that I 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:45.560 did not hear about when I was researching DVDs years ago. 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:49.639 In the mid nineties, Samsung products began to number on 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:53.160 the top sellers for certain categories like l C D screens. 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:57.600 Samsung was definitely leading the way there. Meanwhile, Lee Kun he, 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.560 who was a son of Lee Byung Choll. Remember I 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.280 said Leeb young Chol had ten children. Well, Lee kun 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:08.360 he was the third son. He would join the International 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:12.320 Olympic Committee in the mid nineties, and that move is 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:17.399 really important to note because it illustrates how critical a 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:21.440 role Samsung was to the country and economy of Korea. 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.199 And it also showed how critical the Lee family was 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.440 and how strong their political influence was at the time. 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:31.639 I have a lot more to say about that towards 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.640 the end of this episode. In ninety four, Samsung unveiled 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:40.040 the first four power zoom camera that came from Samsung Aeronautics, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:45.800 and Samsung launched the Samsung Entertainment Group that same year 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:49.320 site you know s A I T showed off a 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:52.800 real time MPEG three technology. And then there was a 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.800 story from that same year or around I guess that 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.920 Lee Kun He, who again was the head of sam 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.359 Sung Electronics at that time and in fact still is today, 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:09.679 ordered an entire inventory of smartphones destroyed because they apparently 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:14.400 did not work properly. So the story was that an 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.040 early smartphone really an internet connected phone, It wasn't a 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:22.320 smartphone the way we would imagine today, didn't work properly 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:26.240 as it came out of production, and so rather than 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:31.000 trying to fix the inventory league when he just ordered 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.679 them all to be burned. Samsung obviously didn't give up 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:37.639 on the mobile business, and in fact, eventually the mobile 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.680 business would become one of the most profitable divisions within 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:45.119 the country. The year two thousand and sixteen notwithstanding, and 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.119 in n the company produced what it claimed to be 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:53.280 the fastest central processing unit chip, the fastest CPU. They 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:57.760 called it the Alpha. In nine, South Korea, along with 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.440 countries like Indonesia, tile and and the Philippines, were all 0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:06.400 caught in a terrible financial crisis. It began in Thailand 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.160 with the collapse of Thailand's national currency, and that created 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.800 a sort of ripple effect, and South Korea was caught 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.480 in it. In fact, you could argue caught some of 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:19.040 the worst of it, with national debts surging as a result. 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:23.359 Samsung was affected by this problem just like other companies were, 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:25.959 although Samsung was in good position to be able to 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:28.720 weather the storm better than a lot of its competitors. 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.480 According to the company's website, Samsung reduced the number of 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.840 affiliated companies to forty five, which is still an enormous 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:40.920 number of affiliates, right, I mean, that's a big conglomerate, 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:45.439 and keep in mind this is family owned businesses. The 0:23:45.480 --> 0:23:49.520 company ended up laying off about fifty thousand employees and 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:53.560 sold ten business units. And one of the businesses Samsung 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:56.840 sold off was its motor vehicle business or it used 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:59.520 to be Samsung Motors, but the company sold off its 0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:03.840 interest to Reno at a big loss. Renault uh Samsung 0:24:04.080 --> 0:24:08.080 is mostly owned by Renault like ownership, and less than 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:12.360 that ownership falls to Samsung. In the late ninety nineties, 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:15.920 Samsung began to produce larger l C D screens and 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:19.240 they ushered in a new era of large flat screen 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:23.760 televisions and monitors, and they also started mass producing digital televisions. 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:27.080 The semiconductor branch of the company was busy creating RAM 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:32.680 and flash based chips, and in Samsung launched a smartphone. 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:36.600 This would be a true Internet capable mobile phone handset. 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:40.639 But keep in mind again, smartphones are not the same 0:24:40.680 --> 0:24:43.760 thing as the smartphones of today. You're still talking about 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:46.840 pretty simple form factors, not the big touch screens that 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:51.439 we think about when we use smartphones these days. Now, 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:54.119 at the turn of the millennium, you know, around two thousand, 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.760 Samsung got into the h d TV game. High definition 0:24:57.800 --> 0:25:01.000 television was still pretty young. I mean, it been pioneered 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:04.920 in the nineties, but two thousand was when consumers were 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:07.880 starting to really look at HDTV for the first time 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:10.960 in a serious way, and Samsung was able to secure 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:15.480 a spot among giants in the industry like Panasonic and Sony. 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:18.439 Samsung Television's remained one of the top brands on the market. 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:22.240 So it's a real triumph for the company to get 0:25:22.320 --> 0:25:26.200 their products right next to these other big name brands, 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:30.119 considering that they had a much, you know, much shorter 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:36.239 history in the consumer electronics field. Through sheer willpower and 0:25:36.400 --> 0:25:39.480 lots of investments. They were able to do this. By 0:25:39.520 --> 0:25:43.600 two thousand one, the company's subsidiary, Samsung Techwin, would become 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:47.640 the supplier for engine parts for the Airbus A three 0:25:47.720 --> 0:25:51.920 eighty and for the Boeing seven seven, so they also 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:55.639 were doing a lot of business to business deals. In 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:59.320 two thousand five, Samsung became the largest producer of l 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:03.639 c D P anneals globally. The following year, two thousand six, 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:06.800 Samsung and Sony formed a deal in which Samsung would 0:26:06.800 --> 0:26:09.600 supply Sony with l c D panels, and this partnership 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:18.000 was almost fifty almost sam Sung owned one share more 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:21.920 than Sony did, and in two thousand eleven, Samsung would 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:24.720 buy out Sony's steak in this partnership and take over 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:28.800 the business completely. As for the mobile phones, Samsung really 0:26:28.880 --> 0:26:32.520 joined the fray in when it launched the Galaxy S 0:26:32.600 --> 0:26:37.120 that was its first flagship Android phone. Since that time, 0:26:37.160 --> 0:26:41.840 Samsung and Apple would engage in numerous court battles around 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:46.080 the world over various patents and designs, with each side 0:26:46.080 --> 0:26:50.320 accusing the other of copying the first one. So Apple 0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:53.200 would say Samsung copied us. In this way, Samsung would 0:26:53.200 --> 0:26:56.600 say Apple copied us, and this way, and these got 0:26:56.640 --> 0:27:02.560 really complicated and enormous. We went into some detail of 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:05.360 the story in an episode called the Patent Wars, which 0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:07.919 came out in two thousand eleven, but obviously those have 0:27:07.960 --> 0:27:13.400 continued since then. Samsung also manufactured the first popular consumer 0:27:13.440 --> 0:27:15.879 tablet running on Android in two ten. That was the 0:27:15.960 --> 0:27:20.400 Galaxy Tab, and it began to experiment with smart televisions. 0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:23.800 Those are TVs that pull in content directly from the Internet. 0:27:23.880 --> 0:27:26.159 You probably are familiar with the many of the of 0:27:26.280 --> 0:27:30.320 you may have a smart TV. I your humble host. 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:33.000 I'm still falling behind the times as my TV is 0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:35.359 not smart, but I got a lot of smart stuff 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:41.879 connected to it anyway. In Samsung actually overtook Nokia or 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:45.800 Nokia if you prefer. It's definitely not Nokia as the 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:49.119 number one production company for mobile phones. So this is 0:27:49.119 --> 0:27:52.400 a big deal for Samsung to overtake the giant Nokia 0:27:52.680 --> 0:27:56.760 in the company is a true powerhouse in Korea. It 0:27:56.840 --> 0:28:01.840 accounts for it almost fifteen percent of the gross domestic 0:28:01.960 --> 0:28:05.919 product in Korea back in and in case you're rusty. 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:09.920 Under economic terms, gross domestic product refers to the total 0:28:10.040 --> 0:28:14.400 value of goods and services originating from inside a country 0:28:14.440 --> 0:28:20.200 within one year. So Samsung's business accounted for fent of 0:28:20.440 --> 0:28:25.399 all of Korea's GDP in twelve That is enormous. There's 0:28:25.480 --> 0:28:28.400 no company in the United States that comes close to that, 0:28:28.920 --> 0:28:33.600 and the overall company has an employee base of nearly 0:28:33.760 --> 0:28:39.640 half a million people. Huge, huge, huge company. Now they 0:28:39.680 --> 0:28:43.040 now focus on just a few core businesses, which include 0:28:43.080 --> 0:28:47.040 mobile technology, electronics, and biopharmaceuticals, among a couple of others. 0:28:47.840 --> 0:28:51.280 It really is big. It is the third largest company 0:28:51.520 --> 0:28:54.680 in the world by revenue, and it holds more US 0:28:54.720 --> 0:28:59.120 patents than any other company. It's also involved in emerging markets, 0:28:59.160 --> 0:29:02.920 including stuff like virtual reality and wearables. Oh and there's 0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:06.000 some notable stories about some of the Samsung products that 0:29:06.040 --> 0:29:07.720 are out there. You know, some things that suffered a 0:29:07.720 --> 0:29:10.560 couple of issues. Let's talk about the one that I 0:29:10.600 --> 0:29:13.680 bet you already know I'm referring to. It is, in fact, 0:29:13.760 --> 0:29:19.520 the Samsung Galaxy Note seven. This phone became infamous after 0:29:19.600 --> 0:29:22.600 more than one hundred of the handsets were reported to 0:29:22.640 --> 0:29:26.800 have burst into flames. So what happened, Well, the phones 0:29:27.040 --> 0:29:31.680 have lithium ion batteries, and lithium ion batteries are flammable. 0:29:32.040 --> 0:29:34.160 That's why you're not supposed to put any in your 0:29:34.720 --> 0:29:38.840 luggage that you're gonna store unless you're gonna check. You know, 0:29:38.920 --> 0:29:41.680 when you go to an airport, you don't check bags 0:29:41.800 --> 0:29:44.840 have lithium ion batteries in them because of the potential 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:50.160 danger for fire. So what can happen is a short 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:55.200 circuit can create this this dangerous situation, and a short 0:29:55.200 --> 0:29:57.280 circuit is kind of what it sounds like. It's when 0:29:57.280 --> 0:30:00.280 you create a shortcut in a circuit, an elect rons 0:30:00.280 --> 0:30:03.400 can flow that can follow the shortcut rather than the 0:30:03.400 --> 0:30:07.600 path you want them to follow. So the basics of 0:30:07.640 --> 0:30:11.840 electronics is this, we harness electrons to do what we 0:30:11.880 --> 0:30:14.120 want them to do, and we do it through making 0:30:14.120 --> 0:30:16.960 all these different pathways and gates. And as long as 0:30:17.000 --> 0:30:20.400 we've got that working, the electrons can only follow the 0:30:20.440 --> 0:30:22.440 gates and go through the gates that are that we 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:24.440 allow them to go through, and they don't go through 0:30:24.440 --> 0:30:26.239 the ones we don't allow them to go through. Our 0:30:26.280 --> 0:30:29.840 electronics work. But if we create a shortcut so that 0:30:29.920 --> 0:30:34.000 electrons can jump from one pathway to another directly, then 0:30:34.080 --> 0:30:36.720 we have a problem. Electrons will take that path of 0:30:36.800 --> 0:30:40.440 least resistance, no pun intended, and as a result, it 0:30:40.520 --> 0:30:44.040 starts to heat things up. You've got this extra energy 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:47.240 being given off the form of heat. So with batteries, 0:30:47.600 --> 0:30:52.480 if there's a puncture between the positive and negative electrodes, 0:30:53.000 --> 0:30:55.600 you can have a direct change of electrons and the 0:30:55.680 --> 0:30:58.400 material will start to heat up. Well, Lithium ion batteries 0:30:58.400 --> 0:31:00.160 are really flammable, so if they heat up and off, 0:31:00.200 --> 0:31:03.920 they'll burst into flames. Originally, Samsung tried to address this 0:31:03.960 --> 0:31:08.080 problem by replacing batteries, but they received reports of several 0:31:08.200 --> 0:31:12.240 replaced handsets also catching fire, so the company was forced 0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:15.640 to issue a full recall on the device, or rather 0:31:15.920 --> 0:31:18.960 they did issue a full recall before the forced thing 0:31:19.240 --> 0:31:23.719 became a real necessity. Meanwhile, you started seeing representatives at 0:31:23.720 --> 0:31:27.440 airports telling travelers that they had to surrender any Galaxy 0:31:27.520 --> 0:31:30.800 seven phone before getting on a flight. It was really 0:31:30.840 --> 0:31:33.640 bad pr for the company, and Samsung is still kind 0:31:33.640 --> 0:31:36.600 of dealing with that to some extent, although it's already 0:31:36.640 --> 0:31:40.080 starting to slack off a little bit because now we've 0:31:40.080 --> 0:31:43.520 got the Samsung Galaxy S eight coming out. As I 0:31:43.600 --> 0:31:47.400 record this podcast, earlier reviews are coming out about this 0:31:47.480 --> 0:31:50.600 new phone, and most of the reviews I've seen have 0:31:50.680 --> 0:31:53.880 been generally positive. The new phone has a twelve megapixel 0:31:53.920 --> 0:31:56.840 camera on the back and an eight megapixel forward facing camera, 0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:00.360 and Samsung has introduced a personal assistant similar to Siri 0:32:00.520 --> 0:32:03.760 or Alexa called Bixby, which I think is kind of adorable. 0:32:04.360 --> 0:32:07.320 And it also the new phone has an Irish scanner 0:32:07.800 --> 0:32:09.760 so that you can use that for authentication. You can 0:32:09.760 --> 0:32:12.080 go totally James Bond with your phone. That's pretty cool. 0:32:12.680 --> 0:32:16.760 So the company is still producing these gadgets, not like 0:32:16.800 --> 0:32:20.880 they've backed off after the problem with the Galaxy seven, 0:32:20.880 --> 0:32:24.320 but that was really bad pr for them. Uh. I 0:32:24.320 --> 0:32:27.320 should also say that before I get into the next section, 0:32:27.400 --> 0:32:32.320 which is largely about the behind the scenes at Samsung 0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:38.640 and the incredibly complex political struggles within the Lee family, 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:44.360 that Samsung makes some awesome products. I have several Samsung 0:32:44.400 --> 0:32:47.880 products myself, So while I'm gonna talk a lot about 0:32:48.120 --> 0:32:53.120 some of the controversies behind Samsung, I don't want that 0:32:53.160 --> 0:32:56.560 to come across as me slagging the company as a whole. 0:32:57.280 --> 0:32:59.640 I think that there are a lot of really good 0:33:00.000 --> 0:33:04.520 Amsung products out there, but it is really fascinating to 0:33:04.600 --> 0:33:08.920 take a look at the family behind the company and 0:33:09.080 --> 0:33:13.560 their relationships with one another. Because you know this is 0:33:13.640 --> 0:33:17.680 some Game of Thrones stuff, and I'm not kidding. You 0:33:17.680 --> 0:33:20.920 should probably grab some popcorn, and I'm going to take 0:33:20.960 --> 0:33:30.800 a quick break to thank our sponsor. Let's get back 0:33:30.840 --> 0:33:36.120 to Lee Byong Chul's legacy. His is a complicated story. 0:33:36.600 --> 0:33:38.800 I talked about him a lot in the last episode 0:33:38.840 --> 0:33:42.360 and about his dreams for Samsung and how he wanted 0:33:42.560 --> 0:33:46.280 his company to be a contributor to Korea's economy and 0:33:46.400 --> 0:33:50.920 help the country create an industry of its own. But 0:33:51.120 --> 0:33:55.000 it's not as simple as that or as heroic. Necessarily, 0:33:55.280 --> 0:34:01.560 there's some complications to the tail. He was really intent 0:34:02.040 --> 0:34:04.760 on the success of his company even as you saw 0:34:04.840 --> 0:34:09.920 regime changes. He even led Samsung from Japan. He was 0:34:10.120 --> 0:34:14.200 in Japan when there was the Kudata where Park Park Chunky, 0:34:15.120 --> 0:34:20.400 the military general, took control of the of the Korean government. 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:27.560 Um this was partially because Lieb Young chol had developed 0:34:27.600 --> 0:34:31.320 a beneficial relationship with the former leadership of South Korea. 0:34:31.480 --> 0:34:34.200 You know that US backed president that was in charge 0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:38.920 of South Korea before the Kudata. Well, Young Chul was 0:34:39.600 --> 0:34:44.640 buddy buddy with that president and had worked very closely 0:34:44.960 --> 0:34:48.759 in order to ensure Samsung's success and the growth of 0:34:48.880 --> 0:34:53.239 the Korean economy. So some would argue that perhaps this 0:34:53.600 --> 0:34:58.640 was evidence of corruption, that perhaps Samsung had been buttering 0:34:58.760 --> 0:35:04.080 up the Korean government meant for preferential treatment. So because 0:35:04.120 --> 0:35:07.200 there was a kutata where one regime was replacing another, 0:35:08.120 --> 0:35:12.400 that put Bong Chul in a delicate situation. Also, according 0:35:12.480 --> 0:35:15.719 to at least some journalist reports, although I have not 0:35:15.880 --> 0:35:20.120 been able to completely verify this, he was in Japan 0:35:20.200 --> 0:35:23.799 at the time, staying at the house of his Japanese wife. 0:35:25.200 --> 0:35:28.000 Back in Korea he had a wife as well, a 0:35:28.120 --> 0:35:33.000 different one at the same time, So according to this journalist, 0:35:33.040 --> 0:35:36.640 he kept two households, one in each nation and was 0:35:36.680 --> 0:35:39.800 practically open about it, or at least didn't go to 0:35:39.880 --> 0:35:42.280 great links to hide it. Again, according to the journalist 0:35:42.360 --> 0:35:46.200 I was reading, but he did return to Korea after 0:35:46.400 --> 0:35:48.520 he was given assurances that he wouldn't be put on 0:35:48.600 --> 0:35:51.399 trial for corruption charges. And again, to be fair, those 0:35:51.480 --> 0:35:55.480 charges wouldn't necessarily be accurate. You know, Samsung had flourished 0:35:55.719 --> 0:35:58.680 under that previous regime, and now you had a new 0:35:58.800 --> 0:36:01.480 regime in place, and that new regime is trying to 0:36:01.520 --> 0:36:05.520 wipe out everything from the previous one away, trying to 0:36:05.560 --> 0:36:08.319 start with a clean slate, so it was a tricky time. 0:36:08.960 --> 0:36:12.360 You could argue that perhaps there was some evidence that 0:36:12.719 --> 0:36:16.200 he had colluded with the president, or maybe it was 0:36:16.360 --> 0:36:19.800 just that, as the story goes, that he was trying 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:22.680 very hard to make Samsung a power player in the 0:36:23.080 --> 0:36:28.200 East Asian economy. Now, General Park Chung he gave Samsung 0:36:28.360 --> 0:36:32.919 some preferential treatment that really is beyond question, and also 0:36:32.960 --> 0:36:36.000 a few other Korean companies received this kind of preferential treatment. 0:36:36.320 --> 0:36:39.320 This was in order to encourage an era of industrialization 0:36:39.360 --> 0:36:43.040 and modernization, but the government made out pretty well too 0:36:43.280 --> 0:36:45.759 as a result. So from one point of view, you 0:36:45.840 --> 0:36:48.680 could argue that Samsung had managed to nuzzle up to 0:36:48.800 --> 0:36:51.640 one leader then turn around to get buddy buddy with 0:36:51.760 --> 0:36:55.239 the next one in order to maintain its advantage. But 0:36:55.440 --> 0:36:58.440 from a different point of view, you could say Samsung 0:36:58.560 --> 0:37:00.480 was able to lead the charge and bring in Korea 0:37:00.600 --> 0:37:03.200 up to speed with the rest of the industrialized world 0:37:03.280 --> 0:37:06.120 in a very short span of time. So again I'm 0:37:06.160 --> 0:37:10.560 not trying to demonize Liebyung chual, but I'm also not 0:37:10.760 --> 0:37:14.400 shying away from the fact that this is complicated. Now 0:37:14.560 --> 0:37:19.360 ninety seven, Leebyung Chol had to officially resign as chairman 0:37:19.560 --> 0:37:22.920 of Samsung. This was due to a charge that his 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:28.560 second son Lee chang He, had been smuggling saccharin into Korea. 0:37:29.640 --> 0:37:33.319 So this scandal breaks out, Lee Byung Chul, as part 0:37:33.360 --> 0:37:37.359 of this news break of his second son being part 0:37:37.440 --> 0:37:41.640 of a smuggling operation, announces that he will step down 0:37:42.160 --> 0:37:47.360 as the head of Samsung Group and thus control of 0:37:47.440 --> 0:37:50.920 the company passed, as his tradition in South Korea to 0:37:51.080 --> 0:37:55.640 the eldest son that was Lie Mang Kee. Now keep 0:37:55.680 --> 0:37:58.680 in mind, Samsung Group is a company of companies, and 0:37:58.880 --> 0:38:03.240 we're talking around a companies at this point. But founder 0:38:03.560 --> 0:38:06.560 lead Byong Chol still had the power to choose which 0:38:06.600 --> 0:38:10.160 of his children would officially lead the company after his death, 0:38:10.960 --> 0:38:14.320 which is common in Korea. Leadership can remain within a family, 0:38:14.960 --> 0:38:18.600 and Biong Chol watched as his eldest song son mong 0:38:18.719 --> 0:38:23.560 He began to alienate the leadership of the various divisions 0:38:23.600 --> 0:38:27.160 within Samsung, and in fact, according to some reports, he 0:38:27.200 --> 0:38:29.920 had even written that within six months he had plunged 0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:35.759 that upper echelon of executive leadership into chaos. There were 0:38:35.800 --> 0:38:38.520 a lot of reports that Mong He was short tempered 0:38:38.560 --> 0:38:42.279 and ill suited for leadership. Meanwhile, Biong Chol's second son, 0:38:42.760 --> 0:38:47.040 Chong He, tried to position himself into a power position 0:38:47.480 --> 0:38:52.279 despite his previous scandal of smuggling Sacharin by talking to 0:38:52.480 --> 0:38:56.200 the President of South Korea and revealing that Biong Chol 0:38:56.360 --> 0:38:59.920 had some slush funds that he was hiding from the government, 0:39:00.239 --> 0:39:04.480 presumably for bribery and other purposes. And this is the 0:39:04.480 --> 0:39:06.960 point where we should really just be humming the Game 0:39:07.000 --> 0:39:09.480 of Thrones theme and probably just keep it up for 0:39:09.520 --> 0:39:13.320 the rest of the episode. So Young Chal made a 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:17.080 decision at that point that the ownership of the Samsung 0:39:17.160 --> 0:39:20.879 group would not go to either of his first two 0:39:21.080 --> 0:39:24.080 sons because he felt that they were both plotting against 0:39:24.160 --> 0:39:26.759 him and would be a bad fit. So instead he 0:39:26.840 --> 0:39:30.520 decided that that we should go to the third son. Now, 0:39:30.560 --> 0:39:32.719 as you can imagine, this did not exactly go over 0:39:32.920 --> 0:39:37.000 very well within the Lee family, so in when Bong 0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:39.840 Chal passed away, the control of his company went to 0:39:40.000 --> 0:39:44.800 his third son, Lee Kun He. Now Samsung itself is 0:39:44.840 --> 0:39:48.879 what is called a chable, which is an institution peculiar 0:39:49.040 --> 0:39:53.839 to South Korea. Essentially, a chable is a large conglomerate 0:39:53.920 --> 0:39:56.759 of businesses that more often than not fall under a 0:39:56.960 --> 0:40:00.480 single families ownership and leadership, and it can get really 0:40:00.600 --> 0:40:04.919 complicated and be really dense and difficult to suss out 0:40:05.200 --> 0:40:10.080 who owns what percentage of which company, so you can 0:40:10.160 --> 0:40:11.800 make a lot of arguments as to whether or not 0:40:12.320 --> 0:40:15.719 things are on the up and up. Well, Lee kun 0:40:15.800 --> 0:40:19.080 He became the head of Sam Suck Group, and individual 0:40:19.160 --> 0:40:21.880 businesses and divisions fell under the control of some of 0:40:21.960 --> 0:40:27.320 his siblings. You might remember I mentioned earlier that Samsung 0:40:27.360 --> 0:40:31.080 Group kind of broke into four major components at this point, 0:40:31.160 --> 0:40:34.759 while those components went to other siblings, one of those 0:40:34.880 --> 0:40:38.560 was Lee mangy Um. He ended up taking control of 0:40:38.600 --> 0:40:42.600 the CJ Group, you remember I mentioned that earlier. Well, 0:40:43.400 --> 0:40:47.000 later on, much later on, like in two thousand twelve, 0:40:48.080 --> 0:40:50.680 Lee mang He and one of his sisters would go 0:40:50.760 --> 0:40:54.840 on to sue Lee kun He and Lee mong He 0:40:55.040 --> 0:40:59.440 was accusing his younger brother of hiding shares from the 0:40:59.520 --> 0:41:03.120 company after their father's death, and that lot loss it 0:41:03.160 --> 0:41:05.160 would last couple of years, only coming to a close 0:41:05.239 --> 0:41:08.880 in fourteen when Soul's High Court upheld a verdict that 0:41:09.000 --> 0:41:12.560 said Lee kun He was innocent of that. Really more 0:41:12.760 --> 0:41:19.680 it was more about how the the the claim of 0:41:19.800 --> 0:41:21.440 any you know, any sort of claim you would have 0:41:21.719 --> 0:41:26.480 for inheritance would have expired after ten years um had 0:41:26.520 --> 0:41:30.319 passed from the death of Young Chal and Young Chal 0:41:30.440 --> 0:41:33.600 died in so by twelve it was far too late. 0:41:34.680 --> 0:41:36.640 But that's not the end of the animosity within the 0:41:36.719 --> 0:41:40.160 Lee household. It actually gets very complicated. So one of 0:41:40.239 --> 0:41:44.920 Young Chul's daughters still second generation here, her name was 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:49.320 Li Suki, still is Li Suki. She married into another 0:41:49.440 --> 0:41:52.840 family in Korea, another prominent family, the kulm Sung family. 0:41:53.920 --> 0:41:56.840 Now the kulm Sung family is the head of another 0:41:56.960 --> 0:42:01.919 table namely l G and as LGS electronic business began 0:42:01.960 --> 0:42:04.960 to flourish, this put a strain on relations between the 0:42:05.040 --> 0:42:08.600 Cum Song and Lee families. So that created some more 0:42:08.920 --> 0:42:16.000 tension inside the family. Now getting into the more complications 0:42:16.080 --> 0:42:19.120 in this web of relationships that were tested after Young 0:42:19.200 --> 0:42:22.040 Cholls passing, I need to talk about some of the 0:42:22.120 --> 0:42:26.840 other folks. Lee Cheung he founded a company called Sahan 0:42:27.480 --> 0:42:30.600 which was an electronics and textiles company. Also made one 0:42:30.640 --> 0:42:33.000 of the first MP three players called the MP Men. 0:42:34.160 --> 0:42:38.200 Chung he would pass away in I think he was 0:42:38.280 --> 0:42:42.040 the first of Young Choll's children to pass away, so 0:42:42.160 --> 0:42:44.600 he only you know he lived only three years after 0:42:44.680 --> 0:42:48.640 his father. Well Lee in He one of you Young 0:42:48.760 --> 0:42:53.280 Choll's daughters, another again second generation here became the leader 0:42:53.360 --> 0:42:59.880 of Samsung's home furnishing businesses, and another one of the daughters, 0:43:00.280 --> 0:43:04.480 Lee Jung Hee, would end up leading Samsung's retail businesses. 0:43:05.239 --> 0:43:08.640 Both groups of businesses would split off from Samsung. The 0:43:09.560 --> 0:43:13.320 home furnishing business split off in n and the retail 0:43:13.360 --> 0:43:18.560 business split off in n So Lee and he founded 0:43:18.600 --> 0:43:21.520 the Handsall Group, which is an electronics production company and 0:43:21.560 --> 0:43:26.840 paper manufacturing business. And according to Handsall, they have no 0:43:27.600 --> 0:43:30.360 connection with Samsung Group at all, that there's no ownership 0:43:30.440 --> 0:43:34.120 connection between the two. Leemyng he would go on to 0:43:34.239 --> 0:43:39.360 found the Shinsga Group that was the department store franchise 0:43:39.400 --> 0:43:43.280 in South Korea, and both of them are very powerful 0:43:43.440 --> 0:43:46.960 leaders in Korea as an economy. Then you had C 0:43:47.160 --> 0:43:50.279 J Child Judang, which is a business it sells all 0:43:50.320 --> 0:43:53.840 sorts of stuff including food and biopharmaceuticals. Lee mang He, 0:43:54.120 --> 0:43:57.759 the eldest of Bjong Chol's sons, lead this company and 0:43:57.840 --> 0:44:01.880 then passed it on to his son Lee j Hun so. 0:44:02.080 --> 0:44:05.640 Lee j Hun is third generation is a grandson of 0:44:05.719 --> 0:44:10.200 Bjong Cho Lee j Hun led c J child Judang 0:44:10.400 --> 0:44:14.320 until and then he was convicted of charges of theft 0:44:14.360 --> 0:44:18.040 and embezzlement and sentenced to four years in prison. He 0:44:18.080 --> 0:44:21.200 would not be the only Lee to be accused of 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:26.520 and convicted for charges such as these. In in fact, 0:44:26.680 --> 0:44:30.359 Lee Kun He he's the guy again, the third son 0:44:30.880 --> 0:44:33.799 of the founder who had taken over control of Samsung Group. 0:44:34.480 --> 0:44:37.399 He was accused of and convicted for charges of paying 0:44:37.520 --> 0:44:41.719 bribes to Chun do Huan. That was the general who 0:44:42.400 --> 0:44:48.600 took over after Park Chung Hee's assassination. So Chount do 0:44:48.840 --> 0:44:52.839 Juan was a president of Korea. South Korea and Uh 0:44:53.880 --> 0:44:58.360 Lee Kun He was convicted of charges of bribing the government. 0:44:59.680 --> 0:45:05.440 Uh He also was accused of bribing the successor to 0:45:06.400 --> 0:45:11.680 Chun do Huan, who was Row Tai Wou. So was 0:45:11.680 --> 0:45:13.960 a bad year for Lee. Couldn't he he had these 0:45:14.080 --> 0:45:17.520 charges of bribery for two of South Korea's recent presidents 0:45:17.760 --> 0:45:22.239 but a n the then president of South Korea Kim 0:45:22.360 --> 0:45:27.600 Yong sam, this was the next successor. Granted, couldn't he 0:45:27.960 --> 0:45:31.160 a pardon? So couldn't he gets a presidential pardon in 0:45:31.320 --> 0:45:34.960 nine after being accused of bribing the two previous presidents. 0:45:36.080 --> 0:45:37.960 By the way, at this point, Korea had entered into 0:45:38.040 --> 0:45:41.440 what is called the sixth Republic, which is what it 0:45:41.560 --> 0:45:46.919 currently is in Korea's In the sixth Republic, the third 0:45:46.960 --> 0:45:53.960 and fourth republic were Park Chung He's um presidential administrations, 0:45:53.960 --> 0:45:56.879 I guess you could call it, And then you had 0:45:56.920 --> 0:46:02.560 the fifth one with Do Juan and Thai who alright, So, 0:46:03.239 --> 0:46:07.080 Kim Young sam also pursued pursued charges of corruption and 0:46:07.160 --> 0:46:10.800 treason against his predecessors Do Huan and taiwou So. The 0:46:11.080 --> 0:46:15.640 the president who granted the pardon to Samsung's Kun He, 0:46:17.120 --> 0:46:19.960 president of South Korea, also went after the two previous 0:46:20.080 --> 0:46:23.600 presidents of South Korea, but then eventually, after having them 0:46:23.640 --> 0:46:27.640 both convicted, would grant them both a pardon. So Samsung's 0:46:27.680 --> 0:46:30.600 politics are confusing, but so are Korea's, right, because you 0:46:30.719 --> 0:46:37.000 had a a current standing president accuse and convict two 0:46:37.120 --> 0:46:40.880 former presidents of corruption charges and then grant them pardons. 0:46:42.000 --> 0:46:46.280 Complicated stuff, alright, So Sam sungskun he gets his pardon 0:46:46.320 --> 0:46:49.920 in nine for those bribery charges. Then he goes back 0:46:50.000 --> 0:46:54.200 to managing Samsung. He has a son, and he had 0:46:54.440 --> 0:46:57.920 three daughters, all of whom attended school in the United States. 0:46:58.600 --> 0:47:01.680 His son Lee j Long, also known in the West 0:47:01.760 --> 0:47:07.440 as j y Lee, assumed control of fourteen internet venture companies, 0:47:07.480 --> 0:47:09.360 but they went out of business within a year, so 0:47:09.520 --> 0:47:16.080 that didn't exactly instill a lot of of enthusiasm because again, 0:47:16.239 --> 0:47:20.320 the way Samsung operates, the way Korea businesses operate, especially 0:47:20.360 --> 0:47:25.600 in this old family tradition, Jay Lee stands to inherit Samsung. 0:47:26.560 --> 0:47:29.440 His father kun He is the is the current leader 0:47:30.239 --> 0:47:33.960 and would traditionally pass it down to his eldest son. Well. 0:47:34.040 --> 0:47:39.120 J Lee is the only son of kunt He. Kun 0:47:39.239 --> 0:47:42.759 He's daughter, Lee Yun Yung, is the subject of a 0:47:42.920 --> 0:47:46.040 really tragic story, and he may have heard about this 0:47:46.280 --> 0:47:49.279 because it was big news when it happened. When she 0:47:49.480 --> 0:47:53.120 was twenty six years old, the heiress to the Samsung 0:47:53.280 --> 0:47:57.319 fortune hanged herself in a New York apartment building. Her 0:47:57.400 --> 0:48:00.880 death was international news. She was the daughter of one 0:48:00.960 --> 0:48:03.920 of Korea's wealthiest men, and in Korea, her death was 0:48:04.000 --> 0:48:07.920 originally reported as the result of a car accident. She 0:48:08.120 --> 0:48:10.680 had an avid interest in race cars, and people knew 0:48:10.719 --> 0:48:14.200 that about her. But according to some people close to her. 0:48:14.280 --> 0:48:17.280 She was also prone to bouts of loneliness and depression, 0:48:17.840 --> 0:48:21.600 possibly because she had hoped to marry a man she 0:48:21.719 --> 0:48:24.160 had fallen in love with back in Korea, but she 0:48:24.280 --> 0:48:27.120 had been told by her parents that the man was 0:48:27.280 --> 0:48:31.160 not of the right stature for her to marry, and 0:48:31.239 --> 0:48:35.040 they forbade her from marrying him. Now, the true story 0:48:35.800 --> 0:48:40.839 that led to her suicide is probably not fully known, 0:48:41.200 --> 0:48:44.279 and I'm sure it is far more complicated than that 0:48:44.480 --> 0:48:48.440 simple answer, but it was a shocking and tragic tale 0:48:49.200 --> 0:48:53.239 that made world headlines. In two thousand and eight, Lee 0:48:53.360 --> 0:48:56.920 kunhe was accused of and convicted for tax evasions. So 0:48:57.719 --> 0:48:59.879 ten years after a little bit more than ten years 0:49:00.000 --> 0:49:03.360 after his last conviction, he gets accused and convicted for 0:49:03.560 --> 0:49:06.560 another set of crimes. The charges said he failed to 0:49:06.600 --> 0:49:10.120 pay forty five million dollars in taxes and he was 0:49:10.239 --> 0:49:13.600 hit with a fine that was nearly ninety million dollars. 0:49:14.480 --> 0:49:16.480 As a result of the scandal, he was forced to 0:49:16.560 --> 0:49:20.919 resign as chairman of Samsung. That put his son, Jay 0:49:21.000 --> 0:49:25.200 Lee's claim in danger, actually, because since he had to 0:49:25.239 --> 0:49:28.279 step down, there was a question of whether or not 0:49:28.440 --> 0:49:31.640 he would be able to pass along the ownership of 0:49:31.680 --> 0:49:34.520 the company to his son. But then in two thousand 0:49:34.680 --> 0:49:38.360 nine he received another presidential pardon for giving him for 0:49:38.520 --> 0:49:42.279 his conviction of tax evasion, and in twos ten he 0:49:42.440 --> 0:49:46.960 reassumed leadership of Samsung Electronics. All right, let's get back 0:49:47.000 --> 0:49:50.080 to c J Group, which again spun off from Samsung 0:49:50.200 --> 0:49:52.719 in the early es. This was the part of the 0:49:52.719 --> 0:49:55.799 company that dealt with food and biopharmaceuticals and later got 0:49:55.840 --> 0:49:59.920 into the entertainment business, forming subsidiaries like c J Media, 0:50:00.160 --> 0:50:04.200 c J Entertainment, and c J Internet. Lee mong He, 0:50:05.280 --> 0:50:08.880 remember he was the eldest son of the founder of Samsung. 0:50:09.719 --> 0:50:12.480 He had a son, Lee j Hun, you remember I 0:50:12.560 --> 0:50:14.800 mentioned him earlier, who became the head of c J 0:50:14.920 --> 0:50:18.600 Group in two thousand two, So this is a Samsung 0:50:18.719 --> 0:50:23.919 founder's grandson. Lee j Hun would be grandson to Byung Chul, 0:50:24.200 --> 0:50:28.960 the founder of Samsung. Anyway, in Lee j Hun was 0:50:29.200 --> 0:50:33.200 arrested on charges of tax evasion and embezzlement, so you 0:50:33.280 --> 0:50:36.920 might be sensing a theme here. He would also eventually 0:50:37.000 --> 0:50:41.279 receive a pardon from the president in As for Mong He, 0:50:41.560 --> 0:50:46.160 the eldest son, he passed away in the second of 0:50:46.600 --> 0:50:50.040 Byong Chul's children to pass away. Now, of course, this 0:50:50.200 --> 0:50:53.160 is not where the story ends. You have probably heard 0:50:53.280 --> 0:50:56.359 about a scandal that is sweeping South Korea that hit 0:50:56.400 --> 0:50:59.880 worldwide news. In it is often referred to as the 0:51:00.080 --> 0:51:03.880 Choice Sun Sil scandal. Samsung is caught up in that, 0:51:04.560 --> 0:51:06.600 as well as lots of other companies and entity. So 0:51:06.719 --> 0:51:10.000 what is the scandal all about? Who? Boy? I hope 0:51:10.000 --> 0:51:12.120 you still got some popcorn? Here we go. Well, as 0:51:12.160 --> 0:51:15.800 you've no doubt gathered from this and the previous podcast, 0:51:15.880 --> 0:51:19.560 Korea's government has had a real rocky time since World 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:22.560 War Two, and even before that was several leaders doing 0:51:22.600 --> 0:51:25.279 their best to maintain a position of power beyond what 0:51:25.520 --> 0:51:28.959 we're supposed to be legally binding protections for the Korean people. 0:51:29.840 --> 0:51:33.480 Many Korean leaders have been involved in various scandals that 0:51:33.600 --> 0:51:36.839 revolve around bribery and corruption. And honestly, I think it's 0:51:36.840 --> 0:51:39.960 impossible to really lay blame here because the nation of 0:51:40.040 --> 0:51:43.239 Korea has been the subject of so much interference in 0:51:43.360 --> 0:51:48.719 international intrigue, But this particular scandal really stands out. Choi 0:51:48.840 --> 0:51:52.560 Sun Sil is the name of a woman. She was 0:51:52.719 --> 0:51:55.960 the daughter of a man named Choi Thai Men. Thai 0:51:56.120 --> 0:52:01.960 Men was the head of a set of South Korean Christians. 0:52:02.800 --> 0:52:06.399 He was formerly a Buddhist and converted to Roman Catholicism. 0:52:07.160 --> 0:52:11.480 Uh and some people call his group occult. I do 0:52:11.640 --> 0:52:14.359 not know enough about it to give it a term, 0:52:14.440 --> 0:52:18.880 but he'd certainly led a sect of religious followers in 0:52:18.960 --> 0:52:22.000 South Korea. He became friends with and a mentor to, 0:52:22.680 --> 0:52:26.960 a woman named Park gun he Um, and I know 0:52:27.080 --> 0:52:30.120 I'm butchering her name, but she was. She was the 0:52:30.200 --> 0:52:35.480 daughter of Park Chung hee, the military general who became 0:52:35.719 --> 0:52:39.000 the dictator of South Korea for many years for the 0:52:39.120 --> 0:52:44.200 Third and Fourth Republics of Korea. Now Park Yun He 0:52:45.120 --> 0:52:49.840 was elected to the position of president in and she 0:52:50.200 --> 0:52:53.600 was friends with Choice Sun Sil that time. Men had 0:52:53.600 --> 0:52:55.600 passed away in the nineties, but his daughter Soon still 0:52:55.680 --> 0:53:01.360 remained very close to Gun he In twenties, team it 0:53:01.520 --> 0:53:05.279 became public knowledge that there were a string of accusations 0:53:05.320 --> 0:53:08.680 and arrests that were flooding the South Korean government, many 0:53:08.719 --> 0:53:12.600 of them targeting the people around the president herself, and 0:53:12.680 --> 0:53:15.839 the story unfolded that Soon Sealed had been using her 0:53:15.920 --> 0:53:20.360 considerable influence over the president to create favorable deals for 0:53:20.480 --> 0:53:23.160 herself and her family and her friends, and that many 0:53:23.239 --> 0:53:27.319 government officials have been accepting numerous large bribes from lots 0:53:27.360 --> 0:53:33.479 of businesses, including businesses related to Samsung. This scandal has 0:53:33.680 --> 0:53:37.719 rocked South Korea. The president has stepped down, she was impeached. 0:53:38.280 --> 0:53:40.399 She stepped down from the role of president. The Prime 0:53:40.440 --> 0:53:45.120 Minister took over. But as for Samsung, this led authorities 0:53:45.160 --> 0:53:48.320 to go investigate j Lee, whom I hope you'll remember 0:53:48.600 --> 0:53:52.719 is kun He's son and therefore a grandson of the 0:53:52.840 --> 0:53:57.719 founder Young chull So. J Lee was serving as vice 0:53:57.840 --> 0:54:03.320 chairman for Samsung Electronics is essentially the heir apparent to Samsung. 0:54:04.000 --> 0:54:06.759 He was accused of bribery, among other things, and was 0:54:06.880 --> 0:54:11.759 arrested in January seventeen. The accusations include one that says 0:54:11.880 --> 0:54:14.920 that he made sizeable contributions to the tune of about 0:54:15.000 --> 0:54:18.719 thirty five million dollars to two nonprofits that Choye Soon 0:54:18.840 --> 0:54:22.839 Seal allegedly controls Now the story is still unfolding at 0:54:22.880 --> 0:54:24.759 this time of the recording, and so the future of 0:54:24.800 --> 0:54:28.359 Samsung leadership remains an open question. It could turn out 0:54:28.440 --> 0:54:31.640 that it has merit and that Jay Lee will be 0:54:31.719 --> 0:54:34.640 convicted of these charges. It could turn out that we 0:54:34.719 --> 0:54:38.960 see yet another presidential pardon, come out and UH absolve 0:54:39.080 --> 0:54:44.279 him of these charges. Who knows one possible successor to 0:54:44.400 --> 0:54:49.000 the Samsung Empire could be Kunh's daughter, Lee bou Jin. 0:54:50.200 --> 0:54:52.480 She is sometimes referred to as Little Kun Heat by 0:54:52.480 --> 0:54:56.360 the Korean public. She's the president of Hotel Shila and 0:54:56.520 --> 0:55:00.040 co president of Samsung Everland, which is a company it 0:55:00.160 --> 0:55:06.759 oversees Korea's oldest amusement park under the umbrella of Child Industries. Now, 0:55:06.840 --> 0:55:08.919 if you listen to part one of the Samsung Story, 0:55:08.960 --> 0:55:11.760 you might remember I mentioned Child Industries in that episode. 0:55:11.920 --> 0:55:15.040 It started off as a very humble business. It was 0:55:15.080 --> 0:55:19.000 a woolen mill back when Samsung first was diversifying in 0:55:19.040 --> 0:55:24.520 the mid twentieth century. Well, liebu Jin's sister, Lee Shun, 0:55:25.200 --> 0:55:28.200 is the other co president of Child Industries, so the 0:55:28.280 --> 0:55:32.719 two sisters sit at the top of that company. There 0:55:32.800 --> 0:55:35.480 was also a recent story where in an effort to 0:55:35.600 --> 0:55:38.360 streamline things, there was a plan to have Child Industries 0:55:38.520 --> 0:55:42.880 acquire Samsung C and T. So that's not the overall 0:55:43.000 --> 0:55:47.239 Samsung company, it's the construction and transportation company that's was 0:55:47.320 --> 0:55:50.840 part of Samsung. But Paul Singer, who is an investor 0:55:51.560 --> 0:55:54.239 UH with more than seven percent ownership of stock, and 0:55:54.320 --> 0:55:58.360 Samsung C and T blocked that plan. He led a 0:55:58.560 --> 0:56:00.480 charge to block it, saying that he felt that the 0:56:00.600 --> 0:56:05.520 nine point four billion dollar stock offer was undervaluing Samsung 0:56:05.680 --> 0:56:08.080 C and T and that shareholders wouldn't be paid a 0:56:08.160 --> 0:56:12.680 fair amount for their their ownership. Um that caused some 0:56:12.760 --> 0:56:15.640 headaches over on the Samsung side for the leadership for 0:56:15.680 --> 0:56:18.880 the Lee family, I suppose I should say shareholders have 0:56:19.160 --> 0:56:22.120 pressured Samsung trying to get them to change to a 0:56:22.200 --> 0:56:25.359 more traditional holding structure, you know, like with a board 0:56:25.400 --> 0:56:28.640 of directors and that sort of thing. Many other tables 0:56:28.880 --> 0:56:31.640 in Korea have given up the ghosts, they have disappeared, 0:56:31.680 --> 0:56:34.279 They got broken up by the government and dispersed and 0:56:34.360 --> 0:56:38.960 turned into more traditional Western style corporations. But Samsung's Lee 0:56:39.120 --> 0:56:43.200 family has not followed suit, and they have been putting 0:56:43.280 --> 0:56:45.640 up resistance to this and have said that it's completely 0:56:45.719 --> 0:56:49.360 unnecessary and in fact would end up causing more harm 0:56:49.520 --> 0:56:52.680 than good. That's their claim. So you could say they 0:56:52.719 --> 0:56:59.040 are disinclined to acquiesce to such pressures. The company itself 0:56:59.280 --> 0:57:02.279 is so vad and complicated that it's hard to wrap 0:57:02.360 --> 0:57:05.680 your mind around the whole thing. And seriously this could 0:57:05.680 --> 0:57:09.240 be an amazing documentary following the story of Samsung's ruling 0:57:09.440 --> 0:57:13.120 family as they gain prestige and power, occasionally turning on 0:57:13.239 --> 0:57:16.120 one another in the process. I really do think it's 0:57:16.160 --> 0:57:20.000 like like Game of Thrones mixed with sopranos, mixed with 0:57:20.040 --> 0:57:25.760 a few other big stories about enormous, sprawling families and 0:57:25.840 --> 0:57:32.440 their control of important interests. Not saying that it's necessarily 0:57:32.920 --> 0:57:37.280 all self serving or dark or anything like that, but 0:57:37.360 --> 0:57:40.720 there's definitely a lot of politics going on behind the scenes. 0:57:41.880 --> 0:57:44.840 Fascinating stuff, and I want to learn more, and maybe 0:57:44.880 --> 0:57:46.960 in the future I will do another episode to kind 0:57:47.000 --> 0:57:49.959 of shed more light onto this company. But I felt 0:57:50.000 --> 0:57:53.160 like a two parter was the best approach in this case, 0:57:53.560 --> 0:57:55.120 because the more I looked into this, the more I 0:57:55.200 --> 0:57:58.840 realized that I just I lack the cultural knowledge to 0:57:59.040 --> 0:58:02.600 dive into it even further. I would have to study 0:58:02.720 --> 0:58:05.200 this for a couple of weeks to really get my 0:58:05.280 --> 0:58:08.040 head around it. So maybe I will revisit it in 0:58:08.080 --> 0:58:10.440 the future, but I think it's a pretty fascinating story. 0:58:11.040 --> 0:58:14.240 If you guys have any suggestions for future episodes of 0:58:14.320 --> 0:58:16.760 Tech Stuff, or maybe you've got an idea for someone 0:58:16.800 --> 0:58:19.280 who should be a guest on our show. You should 0:58:19.400 --> 0:58:23.640 go and let me know via email. The address for 0:58:23.720 --> 0:58:27.240 this podcast is tech stuff at how stuff Works dot com, 0:58:27.560 --> 0:58:30.360 or you can drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter. 0:58:30.840 --> 0:58:33.360 The handle for the show is tech Stuff h s W. 0:58:34.200 --> 0:58:37.360 Normally I would be streaming live on twitch dot tv 0:58:37.520 --> 0:58:40.400 slash tech Stuff, but as I'm recording this right now, 0:58:40.880 --> 0:58:45.880 our office is suffering some internet connectivity issues, so I'm 0:58:46.000 --> 0:58:48.160 just recording an episode. No one's getting to watch this 0:58:48.480 --> 0:58:51.560 amazing performance I'm giving over here, which is a pity. 0:58:52.480 --> 0:58:55.320 But usually you can watch me record the show live 0:58:55.440 --> 0:58:59.479 on Wednesdays and Friday's. Just go to twitch dot tv 0:58:59.680 --> 0:59:02.160 sladh tech Stuff and you can find the schedule there 0:59:03.160 --> 0:59:06.360 and I will talk to you guys again really soon 0:59:12.560 --> 0:59:14.960 for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is 0:59:15.000 --> 0:59:16.240 it how stuff Works dot com.