Samsung Group to replace up to 15 chief executives at affiliates

SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Group, South Korea's biggest business
conglomerate, is to replace as many as 15 chief executives at its affiliates,
including Samsung Electronics Co., a group official said Thursday.

The move, set for Friday, would be the first executive shake-up since the group's
former chairman Lee Kun-hee stepped down in April last year in the wake of a
parliament-ordered corruption probe that led to his indictment for tax evasion
and other charges.
In October last year, an appellate court upheld a lower court's decision to give
Lee a three-year suspended jail term.
Samsung consists of 59 affiliates, including Samsung Electronics Co., the world's
largest maker of computer memory chips, and Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the
world's No. 2 shipyard. The conglomerate accounts for about 20 percent of South
Korea's annual exports.
"The announcement of the personnel reshuffle will likely be made on the afternoon
of Jan. 16," said the official.
"At least 10 or as many as 15 CEOs could be replaced," the official said on
condition of anonymity.
Poor-performing chief executives aged above 60, including Heo Tae-hak of Samsung
Fine Chemicals Co. and Goh Hong-shik of Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co., are
among those on the list, according to the official.
However, the official denied an earlier media report that the group may cut 20 to
30 percent of its roughly 1,700 executive posts.
(END)