On August 9, South Korea’s Ministry of Justice announced that it would release Samsung’s vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was arrested in January this year, on parole, taking into account factors such as the country’s economic conditions and the global economic environment under the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
On August 13, Li Zayong was released from prison and regained his freedom.
Since taking office, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has repeatedly stated that he would rectify the chaebols, cut off the chain of collusion between officials and businessmen, and reverse the “ugly state of the chaebol republic”.
The former President Park Geun-hye’s “confidential involvement in politics” was an opportunity. “Samsung Crown Prince” Lee Jae-yong was investigated by South Korean prosecutors in 2016. On January 18 this year, he was found by the Seoul High Court to bribe Park Geun-hye and his cronie Choi Sun by 8.68 billion won. Sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison, and was arrested and imprisoned in court.
This was evaluated as a huge victory for the reform of the Moon Jae-in chaebol at the time.
However, this "victory" lasted only 207 days.
Every year, August 15th is the "Recovery Day" in South Korea, and the "Recovery Amnesty" will be implemented as usual.
Before this year's "Liberation Day", business and some politicians began to discuss the parole of Li Zairong early.
The Federation of Korean Industries believes that if Lee Jae-yong is not released from prison, the current stagnant investment clock will not function normally, causing South Korea to lag behind global companies such as Intel and TSMC in semiconductors and other fields, which in turn makes South Korea's economy lose its vitality.
The Chosun Ilbo commented that the parole of Lee Jae-yong was for national interest and was "a matter of course." The charity of power has followed the requirements of the people."
However, it is obviously doubtful whether the government's parole of Li Zairong is a "national demand."
Many people believe that the parole of Li Zairong is unfair, and that capital has defeated the law.
On the day when Lee Jae-yong was released on parole, as many as 1,056 non-governmental organizations in South Korea condemned the Moon Jae-in government for “forsaking the wishes of the people and granting preferential treatment to Vice-Chairman Lee Jae-yong.” National Federation of Democratic Trade Unions, Korea Representatives of the Metal Workers’ Union and the Samsung Group’s union delegation held a press conference in front of the detention center on the day of parole and said: “A criminal who had embezzled 8.7 billion won in company funds was released. But it only took 207 days to regain freedom. Justice is dead, and now only the dark shadow of the chaebol Republic is left."
Facing people’s doubts, the Blue House said: “I implore the people to understand that this is a choice made for the benefit of the country.” Blue House National Communication Chief Secretary Park Soo-hyun said at the press conference that President Moon Jae-in also knows that everyone’s treatment of Lee There are different opinions on parole in Rong, and citizens who oppose it are justified, but there are also many people who want to release Li Zayong on parole at critical moments so that he can play an active role in the semiconductor and vaccine fields.
This explanation of the Moon Jae-in government has caused some people to question Moon Jae-in’s promise to "rectify the chaebols" when he came to power. They believe that Moon Jae-in used voters' dissatisfaction with the chaebols and political and business corruption in the past, but now he has given parole to the chaebols. This is very hypocritical.
Justice Party spokesperson Oh Hyun-joo lamented: “The Moon Jae-in government announced today to the people of the Republic of Korea that'money is also a skill.' The justice system in the Republic of Korea has collapsed.” Young Justice Party leader Kang Min-jin said at the press conference: “Moon Jae-in The government’s commitment to rectify chaebols and not tolerate vested economic interests in pursuing extra-legal private interests has failed."
It has only been half a year since Li Zayong was arrested and imprisoned. Why has Moon Jae-in's attitude changed so much?
As the leader of the South Korean chaebol, the total revenue of Samsung Group accounts for about 20% of the total GDP of South Korea.
Someone joked that Koreans can't escape three things in their lives, "death, tax payment, and Samsung."
Some people even directly refer to South Korea as the "Samsung Republic."
This is enough to prove that the Samsung Group has a huge impact on South Korea's overall economy.
Many Koreans believe that if Lee Jae-yong is imprisoned for one more day, the Samsung Group without a leader will suffer one more loss, and the Korean economy will also be implicated.
If Moon Jae-in cannot make a decision only considering economic factors, the timely appearance of American factors is tantamount to pushing him.
When Biden took office, he announced a $50 billion plan to promote the development of the US semiconductor industry.
When Moon Jae-in visited the United States in May this year, one of the important topics was to reach an agreement with the United States for cooperation in the semiconductor industry.
The Samsung Group intends to invest 17 billion US dollars in the establishment of a chip factory in the United States, only because Li Jayong was sentenced to jail and the plan was shelved.
According to the British Financial Times, the American Chamber of Commerce believes that if Lee Jae-yong is released from prison, it will help the United States to strengthen chip production. Therefore, it has lobbied and urged the South Korean government to release Lee Jae-yong.
On May 21, the American Chamber of Commerce in South Korea sent a letter to the Moon Jae-in government directly, warning in a “threat” that if Samsung, the world’s largest chip manufacturer, cannot fully support the work of the Biden administration, it will affect South Korea’s strategy as the United States. The partnership relationship directly links whether Lee Jae-yong is released or not with the "US-South Korea relationship."
South Korea will hold a presidential election next year. Moon Jae-in hopes that Lee Jae-yong's release will ease the competitive pressure on the semiconductor industry in South Korea's characteristic industry. He also hopes to use the capital and resources in the hands of chaebol giants to tide over the economic difficulties.
In foreign countries, he could not bear the pressure from the United States.
In this way, parole Li Zayong seems to be a choice that the Moon Jae-in government has to make.
In Korean history, it is never uncommon to treat chaebols specially.
In his first year in office, former President Lee Myung-bak pardoned a number of chaebols, including Hyundai Motor Chairman Zheng Mengjiu, former Samsung Chairman Lee Kin-hee, and Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon in the name of "recovering the economy."
Park Geun-hye also pardoned Choi Tae-won, the chairman of SK Group, and Lee Jae-hyun, the chairman of CJ Group.
Our newspaper, Beijing, August 18, by wire
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Zhou Chengxuan Source: China Youth Daily