Reclusive Samsung Group head has country under spell

By Rhee So-eui

SEOUL (Reuters) - He is rarely seen in public and he speaks in soft whispers. But when Lee Kun-hee coughs, South Korea catches a cold.

Lee is the head of the country's most powerful business group Samsung, a firm synonymous with South Korea's global success. His business acumen and secretive ways have made him the object of endless fascination and speculation at home.

"People believe Samsung is a company that never fails, which is why to them the person who built up that group with his management skills, Lee Kun-hee, is thought to be god-like." said Kim Sang-jo, executive director of Solidarity for Economic Reform, which is calling for better corporate governance.

A South Korean special prosecutor on Thursday said it will indict Lee for tax evasion and breach of trust. Analysts speculated he would escape any serious criminal punishment because local judges see him as too valuable to the economy to spend time in jail.

Although Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chull, third son Lee Kun-hee was at the helm when the run-of-the-mill "chaebol," or family-controlled business group, sprang into the top ranks of global technology names.

Under his reign, Samsung grew to a giant group with about 60 affiliates, accounting for about one fifth of the country's exports. Leading its ships-to-insurance business portfolio is Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest maker of memory chips and televisions.

Lee has spawned a cottage industry where his exploits, pronouncements and even menu choices have been eaten up by a ravenous South Korean public, whose lives are saturated with Samsung products and services.

"Lee Kun-hee is said to be the symbol of South Korea's capitalism, but he is very unlike Western billionaires such as Bill Gates in that he is totally removed from the public eye," said Kim Hyun-mee, a sociology professor in Yonsei University.