The Scion
B.C. LEE HAD BEEN nonreligious his entire life. But now, at age seventy-
eight, on his deathbed, he found himself asking existential questions of a
Catholic priest who remained at his side. “If God loves humans, why does
he allow pain, misery, and death?” He died of lung cancer in his home at
5:05 P.M. on November 18, 1987.
Twenty-five minutes after his death, the presidents of Samsung’s thirty-
seven affiliates convened at the Samsung Group headquarters. They
unanimously voted in Lee Kun-hee, age forty-five, the third son of B.C., as
their next chairman. Known as Lee II, he’d been named heir by his father in
1976.
The rest of the Samsung empire was split into four parts.
The new chairman controlled the crown jewel of Samsung, Samsung
Electronics. Samsung’s food and snacks company, Cheil Jedang (CJ), went
to B.C.’s oldest son, Lee Maeng-hee, fifty-six. The VHS tape company,
Saehan, went to B.C.’s second son, Chang-hee Lee, fifty-four. The paper
and chemicals company, Jeonju (now Hansol), went to B.C.’s eldest
daughter, In-hee Lee, fifty-eight. And the department store chain,
Shinsegae, went to B.C.’s younger daughter, Myung-hee Lee, forty-four.
These five companies touched almost every facet of South Korean life.
Much of the South Korean economy, in fact, was centered around Samsung
and B.C. Lee’s clan.