Lee Jae-yong’s unexpected meet-up with MZ employees

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was recently pardoned and is returned to business, met with millennial and Gen Z employees. Ten days into his special pardon on Liberation Day, Lee visited a semiconductor R&D complex, cafeteria, and a daycare center in the company. Lee is expected to make site visits and business trips abroad, which were difficult for him before.

Millennial and Gen Z employees of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Division in Suwon delivered a direct report to Vice Chairman Lee on Samsung’s next strategic products and services on Friday. It was the first time Lee received a report from younger employees who are not executives. When one employee asked Lee to take a video message for his teammates, he gladly took one without hesitation with the smartphone of the employee.

Lee Jae-yong had a meeting with millennial and gen Z employees of the Device Experience Division as well. They shared their interests, concerns, and ideas on promoting the brand image and innovative corporate culture. When they were talking about summer vacation, Lee told the employees that this year, he had a five-day vacation solely with his mother for the first time.

Vice Chairman Lee chose a groundbreaking ceremony for a semiconductor R&D complex on the company’s Giheung campus located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday afternoon as part of his first steps taken as the company’s leader since he returned to business. Lee visited Samsung Engineering’s Global Engineering Center to discuss strategies for winning a construction contract abroad with executives and meet employees. “Lee is visiting not only semiconductor sites but also sites of non-chip sectors to show his interest in taking caring of all-encompassing areas.”

Lee is also expected to make business trips abroad. He is highly likely to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of Samsung Electronics' second foundry plant in Texas, the U.S., and visit Samsung’s sites abroad to support ‘2030 Busan World Expo’, or travel to the U.S. as President Yoon Suk-yeol's economic delegation to the UN General Assembly next month.


Teuk-Gyo Koo kootg@donga.com