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| Samsung heir released on parole |
South Korea has conditionally released Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong this week after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his involvement in a widespread corruption scandal that sparked nationwide protests and led to the resignation of the former South Korean president.
The Justice Department's announcement came after the Samsung heir was sentenced to 30 months in prison for one year. Entered into the history of the moderate treatment of these crimes and the preferential treatment of convicted businessmen.
This may damage President Moon Jae-in's reformist image. He promised to curb the excessive behavior of South Korean family businesses and end their close ties with the government.
Yang has been detained since January. He heads the Samsung Group as Vice President of Samsung Electronics, one of the world's largest manufacturers of memory chips and smartphones.
He was convicted of bribing then-President Park Geun-hye and her close friends, who are serving long sentences, to obtain government support for the merger of two parent company subsidiaries in 2015, cementing their control over the group's empire. .
In the past few months, business leaders and key members of Moon Jae-in's government and the ruling party have supported Yang's early release.
They noted the company's key role in the national economy and increasingly serious challenges in the global semiconductor market.
Polls show that South Koreans broadly support Yang's release.
It shows the huge impact of Samsung in a country where people use smartphones, televisions, credit cards, the homes they live in and the hospitals they receive care in.
Despite his release, Yang remains in legal danger after facing various allegations of stock price manipulation and an investigation of merger violations in 2015.
The attorney general said Yang, who will be released on Friday along with about 800 other criminals, decided to release him on parole amid concerns about the country's economic situation and the global economic environment amid the protracted coronavirus crisis.
Yang, 53, was sentenced to five years in prison for corruption in 2017. However, after the Seoul Supreme Court ruling reduced his sentence to two and a half years and suspended his sentence, he was later released in February 2018 for eleven months. And raise the main conviction and reduce the amount of bribes.
Samsung heir released from prison
The Supreme Court reopened the case in 2019, ruling that the scale of Yang's bribes was underestimated. After a new trial, he was returned to prison in January of this year.
When Yang ran the company in prison, the company showed no visible signs of problems at work. He communicated his decision by visiting the company's executives.
With the pandemic forcing millions of people to stay at home, the demand for semiconductor chips, televisions and other products is increasing.
The company announced last month that its operating profit rose 54% year over year for the second quarter. It reached 12.57 trillion won ($11 billion).
But there are also concerns that Young's imprisonment may limit the company's extensive investment. Right now, you have to spend a lot to stay competitive in semiconductors and other technologies.
And Samsung still occupies a dominant position in memory chips, which are used to store information. It is believed to be falling further behind its rival TSMC in the competition for high-tech chips.
The demand for advanced chips is expected to grow rapidly over the next few years. Powered by 5G services, artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.