Memorial service for the 36th anniversary of Lee Byung-chul, founder of the Samsung family, in Yongin.

[iNews24 Reporter Jang Yumi] “A company should be a business that benefits the country first.”

In 1938, a 28-year-old young man named Lee Byung-chul established the trading company Samsung Sanghoe with a capital of 30,000 won. After venturing into manufacturing, Lee Byung-chul established Jeil Jedang and Jeil Mojik, and expanded into distribution, finance, and media, creating the Samsung Group. He advocated for businesses to support the nation and emphasized the concept of “business for the country.”

His bold decision to enter the barren electronic industry led to the birth of Samsung Electronics. Thanks to this, Samsung surpassed 300 trillion won in group sales for the first time in 2012, and exceeded 400 trillion won last year.

In the past year, the sales volume achieved by the Samsung Group accounted for 18.6% of the total sales of 2,247 trillion 497 billion won from all 82 groups. Samsung alone accounted for about one-fifth of the total sales achieved by all 82 groups.

In this way, Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung who created a global first-class company, passed away 36 years ago this year. Despite various hardships, following in the footsteps of Hoam, Samsung Group and other Samsung-affiliated groups such as Shinsegae, CJ, and Hansol were established, playing a central role in leading the Korean economy.

Every year, on the anniversary of Hoam’s founding, these groups attend memorial services to reflect on the entrepreneurial spirit of “business for the country” and strengthen their determination for business expansion. Although Lee Byung-chul’s anniversary is on November 19th, this year it falls on a Sunday, so the memorial service will be held on the 17th. As usual, the Samsung-affiliated groups will make a special visit to Sunyeong in Yongin, South Korea.

However, Lee Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics and the grandson of Hoam, will not be able to attend the memorial service due to the overlap with the first-instance trial of the ‘unfair merger and accounting fraud’ at the Seoul Central District Court. The first-instance trial is the final procedure before the verdict in a criminal case, and it will be the last opportunity for the defense following the prosecution’s closing argument. The first-instance trial is scheduled to be completed by 6 p.m. on the same day.

Except for 2017 (trial) and 2021 (business trip to the United States), Lee Jae-yong has attended the memorial service every year. In 2020, he had lunch with over 50 executives from Samsung-affiliated companies near the memorial site after paying his respects. At that time, he emphasized, “A company should always contribute to the national economy and provide hope to society, following the intentions of Chairman Lee Gun-hee and the entrepreneurial spirit of Chairman Lee Byung-chul.” However, this year, due to the trial and other factors, there are no separate messages related to the Hoam anniversary expected.

In the morning, other family members such as Hong Ra-hee, the former director of the Leeum Museum of Art, Lee Boo-jin, the CEO of Hotel Shilla, and Lee Seo-hyun, the director of the Samsung Welfare Foundation and a consultant at Samsung Global Research, are expected to attend from Samsung. Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee of the DX division and President Kyeong Byung-hyun of the DS division will not attend the memorial service.

In the afternoon, Cho Dong-gil, the chairman of Hansol Group and the grandson-in-law of Hoam, and the executives of Shinsegae Group will visit Sunyeong. Lee Jae-hyun, the chairman of CJ Group and the grandson of Hoam, is scheduled to visit Sunyeong on the 18th or 19th with his son Lee Sun-ho, the head of CJ CheilJedang’s Food Growth Promotion Office, and his daughter Lee Kyung-hoo, the head of CJ ENM’s Brand Strategy Office.

Chairman Lee Jae-hyun will hold a separate memorial service for the deceased at the Seoul residence in Jangchung-dong, where Hoam lived in his lifetime, in addition to the memorial service. The memorial service will be held on the evening of the 19th. An industry insider explained, “In the past, the Samsung-affiliated groups held a joint memorial service for Hoam,” and “since the inheritance dispute between brothers CJ Lee Maeng-hee and Samsung Lee Gun-hee in 2012, they have held separate events on the same day.”