Samsung Lobbying Scandal

Samsung Lobbying Scandal

By Hyejin Kim

Samsung lobbying scandal – the creation of a slush fund, the bribery of prosecutors and government officials, and an effort by the chairman, Lee Kun Hee, and his aide to illegally help his son take over control of Samsung – recently has shaken Korean society and seems to affect the coming presidential election. Three presidential candidates agreed to seek a special prosecutor to investigate alledged bribery and other wrongdoings involving Samsung. The conservative Grand National Party (GNP) wants to look into the money Samsung allegedly gave in 2002 to “congratulate” the current president Roh Moo-hyun’s victory in the presidential election.

Netizens try to guess how much power Samsung really has.

It’s noisy because of Samsung’s bribery scandal. If it wasn’t Samsung? I am sure that the chairman of the company was already summoned and it became chaotic.

Prosecutors who got the bribes from Samsung might think that it’s not the bribes, giving the excuse that there was no recompensation. They seemed to think that not taking the money means not to be recognized and there are others things to receive without cash. Department vouchers, high quality wine, and products of famous brands for wives…
But getting rid of bad customs such as bribes toward journalists took so much time in this society. In terms of gigantic Samsung’s black money, nobody knows how long it will take. Or maybe not forever.

Samsung’s money has surpassed the national authority long time ago. The problem is what relations Samsung and Roh Moo-hyun have, how much their relations will be publicized, and what kind of influence they will have. Samsung controlled the Blue House. We don’t know how it has been controlled, but I’m sure that it was controlled ‘better’ than those prosecutors… besides we know in public, Samsung has intervened in the Blue House in various ways. Whenever the Blue House had some technical meetings, it is already know that they have been organized by the support of the Samsung Economic Research Institute… Even though Roh Moo-hyun’s policy toward chaebol was strict, it has been blunt…. The Blue House has been unconsciously controlled by Samsung…What I can clearly say is that Samsung is not going to be submerged. What chaebol’s saying, the political power is finite, but the money is infinite, is proved.

Ethics becomes a big issue related to this scandal.

My friend said that she (or he) doesn’t know why we have to hate Samsung. Being recognized in the global markets through cellularphones and semiconductors, a big company like Samsung needs that kind of lobbying, he (or she) said. And the criticisms toward Samsung now are like massive opportunism.

It is not about whether we like Samsung or not. People are often confused what they like or dislike and what is right or not. This scandal is about what Samsung did right or not, not about what we like or dislike Samsung. The principle of this scandal which was begun from the lawyer Kim Yong-chul is that the Lee Kun Hee and Lee Chae Yong family organized the company illegaly in order to accumulate benefits of private capitals and, in order to hide it, they bribed government organizations. Therefore, the question should start here, whether this action is right or not….

What we can acknowledge Samsung in the global markets is the competitive power of their products and marketing ability. However, super enterprises in the global markets are not just measured by the competitive power of their products and marketing ability. If it is the model of companies in the world, profits from the companies are important, and social ethnics, labor welfare, and managing mind are also significant as well….

In the military dictatorship period, there were people’s protests in order to accomplish democracy. In these days, there are people’s protests against massive capital and market leader system….the lawyer Kim Yong Chul? He’s not a traitor and even not a hero. Strictly speaking, he is a human who listened to consciouness later. As he said, he is also the one who has to be punished through his disclosure. He can’t be saved from this social punishment. He shouldn’t be. But before he is punished, what this society should keep is not him, but his consciousness. When he was in agnony by himself, it would be the individual consciousness, but now it is the social consciousness….

Individuals or citizen organizations actively try to get support from citizens through signature campaigns or voting campaigns. And others analyze how media reacts.

You can continue this article at:

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/11/17/korea-samsung-scandal/