the Blue House.
But something seemed off at the meeting. The president’s aide scribbled
a note, according to evidence later revealed in Jay Lee’s trial.
“Samsung management succession situation use as opportunity.
Ascertain what Samsung needs in regards to the management succession
situation,” he wrote. “Provide assistance where possible, and find ways to
induce Samsung to contribute more to the national economy. Significant
governmental influence can be exercised in solving Samsung’s more
immediate tasks.”
—
“I THINK I KNOW what people mean when they say the president shoots
lasers out of her eyes when she’s angry,” Jay told his aides in July 2015,
eight days after the merger. Scolded by the president for not supporting the
equestrian team enough, Samsung had to take care of the matter.
The smell of a scandal was in the air.
A little more than a month after the merger, a team of Samsung
executives from the Tower traveled to the InterContinental Hotel in
Frankfurt. Awaiting them in the lobby was a small group of employees
from a company called Core Sports, a firm that had, curiously, been
registered in Germany just the previous day.
The Tower executives signed an $18.6 million contract with Core
Sports to fund the training of South Korean horseback riders for the
upcoming Asian Games and World Equestrian Games.
Core Sports was an odd company—it employed only one person who
had a background in equestrian sports. It was not the type of company that
Samsung, a global electronics manufacturer, would have normally been
keen to shower with cash.
Few people knew the enigmatic woman, Choi Soon-sil, who ran the
company. The daughter of a charismatic spiritual leader, Soon-sil had
befriended President Park Geun-hye as a teenager, when the dictator’s
daughter was reeling from the assassination of her parents.
“Rumors are rife that the late pastor had complete control over Park’s
body and soul during her formative years and that his children accumulated
enormous wealth as a result,” the U.S. embassy had cabled Washington.
If there was power behind the president, perhaps it was here. Samsung