FACTBOX-A look at South Korea's powerful Samsung Group

(Reuters) - Samsung Group head Lee Kun-hee said on Tuesday he was quitting his post at South Korea's largest conglomerate, following his indictment last week for tax evasion and breach of trust.

Following are some key facts about the Samsung Group and the Lee family that founded and runs it:

THE BEGINNING

Samsung was launched in 1938 when Lee Byung-chull, the son of a wealthy landowner who was in the rice milling business, opened a trading company.

To increase revenue, Lee added a trucking business but Samsung, which means "three stars", did not take off until during and after the 1950-1953 Korean War when Lee added a textile company, started his country's first major sugar refinery and built a powerful trading network.

THE GREAT EXPANSION

In the 1960s and 1970's Lee adds a dizzying array of companies to the group that included the Shinsegae department store, the JoongAng Ilbo daily newspaper, a shipbuilder, a chemical company and most importantly Samsung Electronics. Several firms were later spun off.

During this period, the family-run conglomerates known as "chaebol" formed a close alliance with the government run by authoritarian President Park Chung-hee to lift the economy. Samsung was an also-ran at this time with Daewoo, Hyundai and Lucky Goldstar, now known as LG, at the top of the pack.

THE TRANSITION