(LEAD) Samsung Group to revive group-wide planning body

(ATTN: CORRECTS figures in paras 7, 10)
SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate,
said Friday that it will re-establish an in-house office in charge of managing
group-wide affairs in an effort to cope with rapid changes in the business
environment.
The group has decide to appoint Kim Soon-taek, vice chairman of its flagship
Samsung Electronics Co., to be in charge of the envisioned body, spokesman Rhee
In-yong said in a news conference.
"Chairman Lee Kun-hee gave an order to reorganize the group's structure and
revive the group-wide body to cope with rapid changes and prepare for the
future," Rhee said. "But details have yet to be determined."
The group will also appoint Lee Hak-soo, an advisor to its flagship Samsung
Electronics Co., to serve as an advisor to the construction division of Samsung
C&T Corp. Kim In-ju, a former executive of Samsung Electronics, will be named as
an advisor to Samsung Card Co., Rhee said.
Lee and Kim are the closest aides to Chairman Lee.
Samsung dismantled its powerful strategic planning office in late April 2008,
when Lee was forced to resign as head of the group after being convicted of
masterminding dubious bond transactions between his children and a group
affiliate, Samsung SDS Co. The senior Lee was given a three-year jail sentence,
suspended for five years.
The office had some officials who had been accused of helping the chairman manage
his hidden assets and transfer control of the group's management to his son,
Jae-yong.
At the end of last year, President Lee Myung-bak's administration granted a
special pardon for the senior Lee, hoping that the tycoon -- as a member of the
International Olympic Committee -- would do his part to help a bid by the alpine
county of PyeongChang to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.
In March this year, the senior Lee returned to the management of Samsung
Electronics, South Korea's biggest company.
Samsung Group, which accounts for more than 20 percent of the nation's exports,
has about 60 affiliates with a combined workforce of some 270,000.
ksnam@yna.co.kr
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