November 30, 2016. YouTube has many videos of lithium-ion-battery short
circuits that Park Chul Wan described, resulting in a quick blast and a short,
intense fire. One such lab experiment is available at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCGtRgBUHX8.
“We’re also observing Professor”: Screenshot of KakaoTalk message from Lee Soo-
hyung, in the author’s possession.
“According to an acquaintance”: Screenshot of KakaoTalk message from Park Chul
Wan’s colleague, in the author’s possession.
“Now it is the time to act”: Nina Criscuolo, “iPhone 7 Arrives Amid Samsung
Galaxy Note 7 Recall,” WISH-TV, September 16, 2016,
https://www.wishtv.com/news/world/iphone-7-launch-unluckily-times-with-
samsung-galaxy-note-7-recall_20180321053744804/1064305112.
“I knew Samsung hadn’t solved it”: Park Chul Wan, interview by the author,
December 1, 2016.
“The executives told Mr. Lee”: Cheng and McKinnon, “Fatal Mistake That Doomed
Samsung’s Galaxy Note.”
“one of the toughest challenges”: Cheng and McKinnon, “Fatal Mistake That
Doomed Samsung’s Galaxy Note.”
“When the family spoke”: Samsung executives, interviews by the author, January
2011–February 2018.
Four months later, on February 16: Kim Jeong-pil and Seo Young-ji, “Samsung
Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong Arrested on Charges of Bribing Pres. Park,”
Hankyoreh, February 17, 2017.
He’d suffered a heart attack: Sam Byford, “Samsung Chairman’s Heart Attack
Raises Questions About Son’s Succession,” The Verge, May 12, 2014,
https://www.theverge.com/2014/5/12/5708884/lee-kun-hee-suffers-apparent-
heart-attack.
2: SHADOW OF EMPIRE
“I had returned home late”: Lee Byung-chul, Autobiography of Hoam (Paju, South
Korea: Nanam, 2014), pp. 44–45. “Hoam” (pronounced Ho-Ahm) was B.C.
Lee’s pen name that he used in essays and articles. This source is in Korean.
The author’s researcher translated the title and the quoted text into English.
“Koreans have no solidarity”: Lee, Autobiography of Hoam, p. 51.
he took time off: Ibid., p. 65.
he opened a vegetable: Ibid., pp. 65–66.
“In placing my hopes”: Ibid., p. 66.
B.C. was probably eyeing the success: Anthony Michell, Samsung Electronics and
